Iran will hit back against any attack or even threat of military action, the country’s supreme leader said on Nov 10 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.” The supreme leader’s forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Defence Minister Ahmad Vahid was quoted by state media as saying “the armed forces of the Islamic republic will powerfully respond to any aggression and threat… Any (action) by the usurper regime (of Israel) will spell its demise.”
A day earlier, armed forces deputy chief Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri also predicted Israel’s “destruction” if it attacks and warned: “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 on Nov 10.