An Iranian military official threatened to “wipe” Israel “off the face of the earth” if the Jewish state attacks, a stark new threat coinciding with the start of a European Union oil embargo to put pressure on Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters reported.
Revolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh reportedly issued the warning as he announced new missile tests to take place in the coming week.
According to Reuters, Hajizadeh said the exercises targeting mock-ups of air bases in the region should be seen as a message “that the Islamic Republic of Iran is resolute in standing up to…bullying, and will respond to any possible evil decisively and strongly.”
“If they [Israel] take any action, they will hand us an excuse to wipe them off the face of the earth,” Hajizadeh said, according to state news agency IRNA.
The threat echoes an oft-repeated quote attributed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel must be “wiped off the map.” Ahmadinejad was actually quoting the Ayatollah Khomeini when he said the “regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time” — also translated as “wiped off the map.”
Iran's official news agency has reported that the Revolutionary Guards will begin three days of war games, including drills with surface-to-surface missiles, in Iran's central desert on Monday..
The IRNA agency quoted General Ami Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Revolutionary Guards' airspace unit, who said missiles would target bases modelled on those of foreign armies.
The announcement coincides with the start of a European Union oilembargo meant to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme. Iran denies western suspicions that it wants to build nuclear weapons.
A semiofficial Iranian news agency says Tehran plans to deploy submarines in the Caspian Sea.
The Saturday report by Fars quotes Adm. Abbas Zamini as saying Iran plans to deploy “light submarines” to the oil-rich sea that adjoins Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan
Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have soured in the past year. Iran accuses Azerbaijan of harboring anti-Iranian terrorists linked to Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Azerbaijan in return says Iran supports Islamist dissidents. Both countries deny each other’s charges.
Earlier this month Iran said it has begun the “initial stages” of designing nuclear-powered submarines.
Iran has domestically built several small submarines over the past years. It has recently overhauled one of the three non-nuclear Russian Kilo-class submarines it bought in the 1990s.
Iran issued new threats to wipeIsrael "off the face of the earth" Sunday as a new EU sanctions against its oil sector came into full force.
Announcing three days of missile tests in the coming week, Revolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the exercises should be seen as a message "that the IslamicRepublic of Iran is resolute in standing up to ... bullying, and will respond to any possible evil decisively and strongly."Any attack on Iran by Israel would be answered resolutely: "If they take any action, they will hand us an excuse to wipe them off the face of the earth," said Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' airborne division, according to state news agency IRNA.
The missile tests will target mock-ups of air bases in the region, Hajizadeh said, adding that its ability to strike US bases in the Gulf protects Iran from US support for Israel.
"US bases in the region are within range of our missiles and weapons, and therefore they certainly will not cooperate with the regime (Israel)," he told IRNA.
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