Iran 'Will Respond with Full Force' to Any Military Threat
Iran "will respond with full force" to any attack -- or even any threat of military action -- the country's supreme leader said Thursday, after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons.
Iran "will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.
Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran's enemies, "especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel)."
The supreme leader's forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran's nuclear sites. Israeli President Shimon Peres said last weekend that such action was becoming "more and more likely."
Rhetoric between Iran and its two principal foes, Israel and the United States, has risen since the release Tuesday of a U.N. report saying there was "credible" evidence suggesting Iran's atomic program was being used to research putting nuclear warheads in ballistic missiles.
Iran, which has long denied any military thrust to its nuclear program, responded to the report by saying it would not budge "an iota" from its atomic course and asserted it could confront any attack.
The deputy chief of Iran's armed forces, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, warned Israel "will see its destruction" if it attacks, singling out the Israeli nuclear site of Dimona as "the most accessible" target.
He also stated that, in that scenario, "our response would not be limited to the Middle East."
"Iran is not a nation to sit still and just observe threats from fragile materialist powers which are being eaten by worms from inside," Khamenei was quoted as telling the military cadets Thursday.
"Anyone who harbors any thought of invading the Islamic Republic of Iran -- or even if the thought crosses their mind -- should be prepared to receive strong blows and the steel fists of the military, the (Revolutionary) Guards, and the Basij (militia), or in other words the Iranian nation," he said.
Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani reinforced the message by telling Western powers, according to the website of state television, they "risk breaking their neck if they play certain games."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday "the international community must bring about the cessation of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons which endanger the peace of the world and of the Middle East."
Although he did not say what action Israel was looking at taking, media reports last week said he and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were seeking cabinet support for a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran.
Israel last week carried out what national media called a "ballistic missile" test, as well as a large-scale civil defense drill simulating the response to conventional and non-conventional missile attacks.
The United States said Wednesday it was consulting with allies on ways to put "additional pressure" on Iran.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said "a range of options" were being considered. "I don't want to rule anything out or anything in," he said.
over 12 years
devil
over 12 years
Ya Jeha, if israel was defeated in 2006 I hate to see what would have an israeli victory look like.
People were left in 2006 under the mercy of israel's retaliatory fire. israel was able to reach any point on the Lebanese soil. Hezbollah leaders were hiding in their bunkers where the helpless lebanese were left to fend for themselves. YOU CALL THIS AN ISRAELI DEFEAT?
We do not need more unnecessary wars for the sake of the Iranian fanatics.
over 12 years
This Supreme Criminal and his 7th century regime from hell needs to be sent back to where he came from! Iran, the paper monster is much more vulnerable than this turbaned genocidal ugly loud mouth baboon lets on. It would be a fatal mistake if the free world did not step in and elliminate the threat that this criminal and his zombie followers represent to ME and World Peace especially that this regime has been caught with its hands in the cookie jar pursuing Nuclear weapon technology. Throughout History, the price of inaction or even procrastination against criminal Tyrants and despots far outweighed that of timely action (imagine if Hitler was stopped in his tracks when he invaded Poland in 1938 the whole of the WWII tragedy would have been averted....) History is littered with examples where indicision and inaction or even late action has cost millions of innocent lives... Of course the best solution would always be to help the free oppressed people overthrow their criminal tormentor
Iraq did it, and we know what was the outcome. if they retaliate whatsoever,....