Iran’s President Threatens ‘Attack on Center’ of Israel
Ibrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, made a sharp threat directed at Israel on Monday, February 19, during the Army Day military parade ceremony.
According to Iranian media reports, Mr. Raisi said his “message” to Israel is “that if you are seeking to normalize relations with countries in the region, know that the slightest movement by you is not hidden from our armed forces, and if the slightest move is made on your part, the target of our armed forces will be the center of the Zionist regime, and this region will be the graveyard of Zionists, and the power of our armed forces will give you no peace.”
Meanwhile, during the Iranian Islamic Republic’s Army Day parade ceremony, the “Fatah tactical ballistic missiles” were displayed for the first time.
Iranian government officials, including the leader of the Islamic Republic, have so far threatened Israel with destruction on various occasions, which has been met with widespread international condemnation.
Raisi’s recent threat comes as military activities by Iran and Israel in the region have increased in recent months. For instance, on the evening of December 16, 2021, many residents of several western Iranian cities reported on social media hearing multiple explosion sounds and “drone strikes,” but the Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported citing an “informed source from the armed forces” that the source of these sounds was “thunder and lightning.”
A few weeks later, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, an Iran-backed paramilitary group, announced in a statement the bombing of areas in Iran with unmanned aircraft by Israel from Iraqi territory.
In response to this action, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also carried out a missile attack on the evening of March 12, 2022, with 12 ballistic missiles on Erbil, the center of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, and subsequently groups affiliated with the Islamic Republic announced that this action was “in retaliation” for Israel’s drone attack on a site in Kermanshah.
Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, also claimed in his latest remarks on April 14 of this year regarding last month’s missile attacks that the target of these missiles was a “Mossad base.”
Mr. Qaani also said: “If aggression occurs anywhere, wherever and whenever we determine, we will definitely confront Israel,” but implicitly regarding why the Islamic Republic does not respond to Israel’s multiple attacks in Syria, he said: “If we sometimes have considerations, it is due to regard for the people’s situation and various other issues, but this is not an indication of Israel’s power.”
Threats by Iranian officials against Israel have intensified as the increasing cooperation of the Republic of Azerbaijan with Israel, as well as the normalization of relations by Arab countries in the region with Israel, have added to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s concerns about Israel.
Israeli media recently announced that the leaders of that country, in multiple recent visits to Persian Gulf countries, are seeking to form a coalition with their new allies similar to a “NATO” pact to respond to the “common threats” posed by Iran to Israel and countries in the region.
The President of Egypt, the Prime Minister of Israel, and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, in an unprecedented trilateral meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, also discussed in early April ways to counter Iran’s influence in the region and security threats arising from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s activities in the Persian Gulf.
Israeli website Y-Net reported at the same time that Naftali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister, explained his “vision for forming a regional air defense system in all dimensions, including laser defense of a type that Israeli military and security industries are producing,” to the leaders of Egypt and the UAE.
Source: Radio Farda
