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- Iranian general warns Israeli bases are 'within reach,' only escape is the sea
Iranian general warns Israeli bases are 'within reach,' only escape is the sea
'Smallest goal will be your existence.You can’t bear. When you escape, you’ll have no way but to the sea'
The vice commander of Iran’s revolutionary guards issued a harshly-worded threat to Israel on Friday, warning that the Jewish State’s air bases were “within reach” for Iranian missiles and once they strike the only escape will be the sea.
“Israel: Don’t trust in your airbases; they’re within reach,” Hossein Salami wrote on Twitter.
“Don’t have hope in US and UK; when they arrive, you’re not there… Smallest goal will be your existence.You can’t bear. When you escape, you’ll have no way but to the sea,” he added.
Tensions between arch-foes Israel and Iran have reached a crescendo in recent weeks since Israel’s pre-dawn attack on an Iranian-operated T-4 (Tayfur) airbase that killed 14 people, reportedly including 7 Iranian personnel.
Per longstanding policy, Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility. However, the United States, Russia, Syria and Iran have all said the strike was carried out by the Jewish State. An article in the New York Times also quoted an Israeli official confirming that Israeli launched the strike, which was later deleted.
In an earlier tweet on Friday, Salami wrote: “Hands are on the trigger and missiles are ready and will be launched at any moment that enemy has a sinister plot… North and west of Israel are at the intersection of fire; you will not escape. You live in the dragon’s mouth.”
Since the April 9 incident the two arch-foes have been locked in a war of words, playing ping pong with a succession of verbal threats.
Asked about the Iranian threats by reporters on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel was fully prepared for a "multi-arena" conflict, referring to fire from both Gaza and Lebanon.
"We have been hearing these threats for many years now, and I am suggesting that all those on the northern border [in Lebanon] really think hard about what they do -- they really should not test the IDF or the State of Israel," he said.
Last week, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that the “crime” committed “will not remain without response.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi, according to Iranian news agencies, said “the Zionist entity [Israel] will sooner or later receive the necessary response and will regret its misdeeds” He added, “the Syrian and resistance forces will respond in a timely fashion and appropriately in the region.”
This followed comments made by Ali Shirazi Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: "If Israel wants to continue its treacherous existence ... it should avoid stupid measures. If they give excuses to Iran, Tel Aviv and Haifa will be destroyed.”
Netanyahu came out swinging in response to the Iranian comments asserting that Israel was “more powerful” than ever. He added that the Jewish State had “restored the capacity of the Jewish people to defend ourselves.”
On Friday, in his cabinet meeting he said: “We hear the threats from Iran. The IDF and the security forces are ready for any development. We will fight whoever tries to harm us. We will not shy away from the price and we will exact a price from those who want to hurt us. The IDF is ready for the job and the people will stand strong.”
This came ahead of a publication released by the IDF on Tuesday that showed a map with five Iranian-operated bases in Syria, seen as possible targets for Israel to strike in retaliation to a prospective Iranian attack.
An Israeli security source on the same day stated that the IRGC had established itself in bases in Syria and was planning a retaliatory attack. The source add that this would take the form of direct confrontation between Israel and Iran and is a breakaway from past incidents usually via regional proxies such as the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
There is yet to be an indication of when an attack will take place. However on Monday, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, according to the Times of Israel, said the country’s retaliation against Israel will come “sooner or later” and that Jerusalem will “regret its misdeeds.”