Iran's Military Boss Calls Wiping Israel Off the Map 'An Achievable Goal'
Top leaders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps are lobbing fresh threats at Israel, with the commander of the IRGC saying Iran now has the ability to wipe Israel off the map.
Gen. Hossein Salami made his threats against Israel on Monday in a speech to fellow IRGC leaders, according to Fox News.
“This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer … a dream (but) it is an achievable goal,” Salami said.
He added Iran has “managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the imposter Zionist regime,” 40 years after the revolution that toppled the former Shah of Iran.
“The second step of the revolution is the step that rearranges the constellation of power in favor of the revolution. Iran’s Islamic evolution will be on top of this constellation,” Salami said.
“In the second step, we will be thinking of the global mobilization of Islam.”
Salami’s comments came during a time of heightened tensions following an attack on a Saudi Arabian oil refinery that has been blamed on Iran, despite that nation’s official denials. The tensions have revived speculation that either the U.S. or Israel might attack Iran.
In response, IRGC Deputy Commander for Operations Abbas Nilforoushan said Israel would emerge the loser.
“If Israel makes a strategic mistake, it has to collect bits and pieces of Tel Aviv from the lower depths of the Mediterranean Sea,” he said in a recent interview with IRGC’s Tasnim news agency, according to a translation by Radio Farda, the Iranian arm of Radio Liberty.
He said that no matter how loudly Israel barks, it could never defeat Iran in a war.
“Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran. Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides,” he said, adding that if Israel dares to fight Iran, “Nothing will be left of Israel.”
“Israel lacks strategic depth, so, its people are poor and there are too many ethnic, cultural and political divides in their society. A war will drag Israel’s regime to the threshold of annihilation.”
“If only one missile hits the occupied lands, Israeli airports will be filled with people trying to run away from the country,” he said, in a comment from his interview published by the Jerusalem Post.
Nilforoushan said Hezbollah, a terrorist group funded in part by Iran, would liberate “northern Israel in case a war breaks out. This will certainly happen, as Hezbollah has a good capability to do it.”
Nilforoushan said Israel’s strike-first tactics reflect that Israel “cannot afford being involved in a full-fledged war.”
The deputy commander said the proof of Iran’s strength is that no nation has dared attack it.
“No country can stand up to the Islamic Republic. Tehran’s enemies know that they will not be in control of ending a war they might start against Iran. If the enemies could have started a war against Iran, they would have done it.”
He also said Iran’s patience is not unlimited.
“We will perceive any mistake in the region as involvement in a war in the whole region. Any action to start a war in the region will flare up a fire that will burn those who have started the war,” he said.
He also vowed that any attack on Iran would be met by an attack on the attacker’s home turf.
“We will not let the enemies to face us at our borders. We will quickly drag the war to the bases and interests of the enemies anywhere they may happen to be,” he said.
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