Israel must expect firm Iran response

A senior Iranian lawmaker has rapped Israel for making “ineffective” threats about joint international action against Iran’s nuclear program, warning Tel Aviv of Tehran’s firm response.

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon said on Monday that the world must take joint action to halt Iran’s nuclear activities, including a pre-emptive strike, if necessary.

The former chief of staff of the Israeli army called on the world to realize what he called “nuclear threat posed by Iran” and noted that it could conduct a “pre-emptive strike” on Tehran.

Spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Kazem Jalali said that Israel will never have the ability to launch a military attack on Iran, stressing in case of such a move, the Israeli regime must definitely expect a “crushing and firm” response by the Islamic Republic.

“(Officials of) the Zionist regime (Israel) very occasionally make such unfounded remarks which will have no impact on Iran’s approaches and ties,” Jalali told Majlis news agency (ICANA).

Israel should know that its plots to inflict damage on Iran through a military strike would never yield fruits, the Iranian legislator added.

He pointed to the resistance of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestine’s Hamas against Israel and stated that Israel could not achieve its goals in confronting the two groups although it made use of its utmost capabilities.

“So, how does the regime seek to encourage the international community to launch a military attack on Iran?”

Israel, widely believed to be the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East with over 200 undeclared nuclear warheads, pursues the policy of “deliberate ambiguity” on its nuclear program.

Tel Aviv has rejected global demands to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and does not allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to observe its controversial nuclear program.

Iran has repeatedly and vehemently rejected unverified Western allegations that it is pursuing a military nuclear program, insisting that as a member of the IAEA and a signatory to the NPT, it has every right to engage in nuclear activities for all peaceful purposes.

The IAEA has been regularly conducting rigorous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence of Iran’s diversion from a civilian nuclear program.