9:59pm UK, Tuesday February 02, 2010

Adam Arnold,
Sky News Online

Iran’s leaders are “sowing the seeds of their own destruction” with their brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, the US vice-president has claimed.

An Iranian opposition protester stands opposite security forces last December

But Joe Biden also said America should continue to extend a hand to the country as the US “moves towards serious sanctions” against Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.

Mr Biden defended the Obama administration’s cautious approach, despite some Republicans calling for America to push for regime change.

He said: “When they (Iran’s leaders) acted as they did, when the first protests broke out and people were brutalised, they lost their moral credibility and their own country and around the region.

“And I think they’re sowing the seeds for their own destruction.”

He also told MSNBC television: “We are moving with the world, including Russia and others, to put sanctions on them.

“I think we’ve moved in the right direction… We’re going to end up much better off than we would have had we tried to go in there and physically tried to change the regime.”

Several protesters were killed in clashes with security forces during anti-government demonstrations in the capital Tehran last December.

It was the most serious episode of violence since the aftermath of June’s disputed presidential election and subsequent crackdown by authorities.

Meanwhile, Iran has warned its Arab neighbours in the Persian Gulf that the US is trying to drive a wedge between them by boosting its missile defence systems in the region.

US military officials have said the systems – involving upgraded Patriot missiles on land and more US Navy ships capable of destroying missiles in flight – are intended to counter a potential Iranian missile strike.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has had talks with the crown prince of Qatar, one of four Arab nations where the US has its Patriot missile systems, and told him the West was seeking to divide them.

“The enemies intend to extend the fire of war in the entire region to solve their own political and economic problems,” state TV quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying in their meeting.

In a separate development, Mr Ahmadinejad has proposed a prisoner swap of Iranians in US jails for three American hikers being held in Tehran.

He said there were ongoing negotiations about possibly exchanging the hikers for several Iranians jailed for years in the United States.