U.S. incapable of attacking Iran: Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the United States is incapable of launching a military strike against Iran but would "regret" an attack if it carried one out.

"America is today incapable of staging a military strike against Iran for several reasons," Ahmadinejad told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel in an interview aired Friday evening, according to an Arabic voice-over of his remarks in Farsi.

The ground is not prepared for a strike in economic, political or military terms, he said.

"And of course, they know full well that the Iranian people's response (to any attack) will be harsh, and they will regret it,"
Ahmadinejad said.

"In practice, then, they do not want to launch a strike against Iran. They are agitating and applying pressure on (U.N.) Security Council members in order to deceive and extricate themselves from the impasse in which they are," he added.

Democrats warn Bush

Within the same context, Democratic lawmakers warned the Bush administration was "beating the drums for war" with Iran, and vowed to wield constitutional powers to thwart any U.S. military strike.

Their comments, in a Capitol Hill press conference, came as
President George W. Bush fired off a fresh warning that international pressure would grow on the Islamic Republic, unless Tehran agreed to suspend enriching uranium.

"It's an open secret that Dick Cheney is agitating for a preemptive attack on Iran," said Democratic congressman Peter DeFazio.

"It would be disastrous to the United States, disastrous to the region, disastrous for our armed forces in Iraq," he said.

Democratic Representative Jim McDermott accused the Bush administration of "beating the drums for war" with Iran.

"We, under the Constitution, have the right to declare war, to send troops into battle, not the president -- we are the ones, the Constitution, in Article I, gives us the power.

"That means we have to look at what the options are."

A total of 12 bills are pending in the House of Representatives and the Senate, designed to throw up roadblocks to any decision by the Bush administration to take military action against Iran's nuclear program.