Iran says U.S. to be humiliated if it attacks

Iran's defense minister said on Monday that any U.S. military attack over its nuclear programme would result in a humiliating defeat for the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported. He was speaking on the anniversary of an attempt in 1980 by the U.S. military to rescue Americans held hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The mission failed when the helicopters crashed in a sand storm in the Tabas desert in eastern Iran. "If America chooses the military option a humiliating defeat worse than their failure in the Tabas desert will await them," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was quoted by IRNA as saying. Iran says the sand storm was "divine wrath". Iran is embroiled in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which the United States says it designed to build bombs. Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution but has refused to rule out military action. "Bringing up the issue of military option, threatening Iran with it ... contradicts the charter of the United Nations and other international regulations," Najjar said.