IRAN WARNS RETALIATION

Iran issued another warning against any attack on the country, while claiming its talks with world powers over its controversial nuclear programme were “a success and a victory.” Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s deputy representative to the Revolutionary Guards, Mojtaba Zolnour, said Tehran will “blow up the heart” of Israel if attacked by the Jewish state or the United States. “Even if one American or Zionist missile hits our land, before the dust is settled, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel,” state news agency IRNA quoted Zolnour as saying. Another Khamenei appointee and one of Tehran’s Friday prayer leaders, Ahmad Khatami, also issued a stern warning to Iran’s enemies, without naming any. “As our leader has said, our enemies are pursuing an Iranophobia scenario against us, and they are saying Iran is against world peace. But the world has understood that what they say is a lie,” Khatami said in his Friday sermon broadcast live on state radio. Khatami predicted a new Palestinian uprising, after clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque two weeks ago increased tension in Jerusalem, state television said.