The most recent anti-Israel invective got here amid heightened tensions between the Jewish state and the Islamic Republic
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Tuesday that any hostile transfer from Israel “will result in the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv.” Talking at an annual army parade, Raisi known as on the US and different “extra-regional” forces to depart the Center East for their very own profit.
Delivering his remarks as armored automobiles rolled by and fighter jets flew overhead, Raisi marked Iran’s annual Military Day by proclaiming that “the smallest hostile transfer” from the “Zionist regime” in Israel will “result in the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv,” in accordance with Iran’s Tasnim information company.
Iranian leaders typically use Military Day to make bombastic threats towards Israel and the US. Final 12 months, Raisi issued an identical warning, saying that Iran’s armed forces would goal “the middle of the Zionist regime” if Israel made “the tiniest transfer towards the nation of Iran.”
Nevertheless, this 12 months’s speech got here amid higher-than-usual tensions between the 2 regional powers. Iran blamed Israel for drone assaults on a army plant in February, whereas Israel accused Iran of violating its airspace with an unmanned plane earlier this month. In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that Iran is on the verge of enriching weapons-grade uranium, declaring final month {that a} “horrible nuclear warfare” would ensue if Iran developed atomic weapons.
Tehran denies that it’s searching for a nuclear weapon, and has reportedly rejected efforts by the US to speak it again right into a deal the place it will freeze enrichment in trade for sanctions reduction.
In Tuesday’s speech, Raisi singled out the US as a destabilizing pressure within the Center East. “The additional-regional and American forces should depart the area as quickly as doable, as a result of it will likely be to the advantage of themselves and the area,” he mentioned.
Whereas Saudi Arabia is commonly a goal of Tehran’s rhetoric, Raisi’s speech made no point out of Riyadh. The president did, nonetheless, say that Iran’s armed forces “warmly shake the hand of regional nations” prepared to cooperate on problems with mutual safety, possible a reference to the latest Chinese language-brokered detente between the 2 international locations.
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