Commander Downplays Significance of Israeli War Rhetoric

A senior Iranian military commander dismissed Israel’s growing war rhetoric against Iran as insignificant, but meantime reiterated that Iran is fully prepared to repel enemy threats and attacks.

“Israel’s threats are totally empty and futile,” Commander of Iran’s Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base General Hassan Mansourian said on Tuesday.

“If the fake regime (of Israel) dares to take action, we will return the usurped lands to Palestinians,” Mansourian added.

“Today we have stood up to all these threats through proper planning and arrangements and no bold move of the enemy would remain unanswered,” Mansourian reiterated.

In relevant remarks last week, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said an enemy invasion of Iran is possible, but such a war would put an end to the life of the Zionist regime of Israel.

“Owing to the (high) speed (of the growth and development) of the Islamic Revolution, this cancerous tumor, Israel, is challenging us to war, but it is not clear when this war would take place,” Jafari said in Tehran on Saturday.

“War may break out, but if Zionists start something, that will be the point of their annihilation and the endpoint of their story,” he added.

Jafari, meantime, underlined that “no one dares to wage an extensive ground assault on Iran”.

The General said if the enemy were wise, there wouldn’t be any problem, “but the problem is that there is no guarantee for this rationality and we should be prepared too.”

Israel and its close ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads.

Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

The Zionist regime has recently intensified its war rhetoric against Tehran, warning that it plans to hit Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran has, in return, warned that it would target Israel and its worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by the Tel Aviv.

The United States has also always stressed that military action is a main option for the White House to deter Iran’s progress in the field of nuclear technology.

In response, Iran has warned it would hit the US, Israel and their worldwide interests and close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it became the target of a military attack over its nuclear program.

Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route.