IRGC’s latest drills forced Israelis to halt empty threats against Iran, says spokesman

The spokesman of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran’s recent show of force compelled Israeli rulers to halt their empty military threats against the country.

In an interview with Al-Alam television, Ramezan Sharif referred to the IRGC’s latest large-scale military exercises, saying the Israelis issued lots of threats against the Islamic Republic only before the drills.

The IRGC held massive military exercises, dubbed Great Prophet 17, in Iran’s southern coast last month. During the five-day maneuvers, Iran’s senior commanders sternly warned Israel against continuing its anti-Iran rhetoric.

Before the drills, Israeli officials had ratcheted up threats against Iran, especially over the ongoing negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, which the Israeli regime staunchly opposes.

They suggested that Israel would attack Iran, with minister of military affairs Benny Gantz telling American officials that he had directed the regime’s military to prepare for the possibility of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Brigadier General Sharif dismissed the remarks as empty rhetoric, echoing Israeli military assessments that the regime lacks the power to launch large-scale attacks against Iran.

“After the exercise, the Zionists’ prime minister officially ordered their military figures not to talk about Iran at all,” Sharif said.

The Israelis, he said, are clearly interested in taking destructive action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the Islamic Republic’s deterrent power and the location of its nuclear facilities prevent the Tel Aviv regime.

“Regardless of whether they act or not, our assessment is that [the threats] are rhetoric intended for political gains, especially to overcome their problems in their occupied lands, which makes them try to distract [the public] with an external issue,” the general added.

He said if the Israelis felt that they were not dealt with decisively, they would conduct major attacks against the intended country, especially with regard to nuclear issues.

Pointing to Israel’s attacks against the nuclear facilities of Iraq and Syria, Sharif said the Israelis’ main manifesto is that no Muslim or Arab country has the right to have a nuclear program.