Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, saying the program is peaceful. The Iranian president said Israel would pay a price for any military intervention, after a similar attack in November of an Iranian-flagged freighter off the Israeli coast. “The Zionists, of course, would pay a price and their government would suffer from this decision,” Ahmadinejad said, according to a Reuters account of his remarks.
Israel reportedly neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the earlier attack, in which four sailors were captured by the Iranians.
The sailors were freed a few days later.Confined spaces are a regular hazard for firefighters.