“Simulation” of IRGC Missile Attack on Israeli Nuclear Facilities

The newspaper “Jerusalem Post” reported on recent threats by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) regarding a missile attack on Israeli nuclear facilities. The newspaper, while referring to the “simulation” of an attack on Israeli facilities, also points to the history of these threats.

The Jerusalem Post published a report on Saturday evening, December 25, and updated it on Sunday, December 5 (solar calendar), addressing the latest threats by the IRGC of the Islamic Republic against Israel and the escalation of these threats in recent weeks.

Referencing a series of tweets published on the “IRGC Aerospace Force’s” Twitter account, the newspaper reported on the latest threats by the IRGC’s aerospace force to launch missile attacks on the “Dimona” nuclear facility in the Negev Desert and the cities of Jerusalem and the port of Haifa.

Fars News Agency, a media outlet close to the IRGC, published a short animated film on December 5 that apparently shows a simulation of an attack on the Dimona atomic facility in southern Israel.

The “IMAÉ Media” account (Iranian military achievements media) had also published such a film on the Twitter network one day earlier.

Threat to Israel and American Bases in the Region

According to Fars, in the IRGC Aerospace Force exercise, an attack on targets in Israel was simulated using 16 ballistic missiles and five suicide drones.

Military officials of the Islamic Republic say the range of missiles tested in recent exercises has been between 350 to 2,000 kilometers, and all American bases in the region and all Israeli territory fall within their reach.

Britain’s Foreign Ministry criticized Iran’s ballistic missile tests on Friday in a statement, describing them as a threat to regional and global security.

Saied Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic, called Britain’s request for an immediate halt to such actions “interference in Iran’s internal affairs” and said: “Iran acts within the framework of international laws and regulations and in accordance with its defensive needs.”

Response to Israeli Threats?

Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, made more explicit statements about the motivation for the exercise called “The Great Prophet 17” and said: “Pre-planned maneuvers are a response to recent Israeli threats against Iran.”

Israeli media recently reported on plans by Israeli security forces and the Ministry of Defense to simulate an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, attributing this to a response to the potential failure of JCPOA revival negotiations.

The Jerusalem Post in its report referred to a history of recent IRGC threats against Israel and cited a tweet from December 13 in which it spoke of readiness to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa and “liberate the holy Quds.”

Historic Threats and Global Powers’ Commitment to Israel

Threats of destroying and wiping Israel off the map date back to the era of the Islamic Republic’s first leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and have been repeated and intensified over the past four decades on various occasions.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, senior spokesman of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces, emphasized about four weeks ago in an interview with ISNA: “Destroying the Zionist regime is our greatest aspiration and the greatest goal we pursue.”

Parallel to the JCPOA revival negotiations in Vienna and especially with the beginning of the seventh round with the negotiators of Ibrahim Raisi’s hardline government, which began on December 8, Israel increasingly expressed concerns and warnings that an agreement would not prevent the Islamic Republic from permanently obtaining an atomic bomb.

The United States and the three remaining European countries in the nuclear agreement have repeatedly and explicitly reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining Israel’s security, and China and Russia also emphasize that they will not tolerate threats to Israel’s existence.

Moreover, it appears that the IRGC’s threats about attacking Israeli nuclear facilities are largely rhetorical and propagandistic in nature; according to Islamic Republic officials, Israel has repeatedly attacked or sabotaged Iranian nuclear facilities without a similar response being taken to these actions.

Source: DW