TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian officials warned on Tuesday that Israel will find itself in war with Iran in Tel Aviv streets if it dares to attack the Islamic Republic. |
"Israel is not in the size to launch a military strike on Iran, but if it takes such a foolish action, the Iranian militaries will fight with the Zionist soldiers in Tel Aviv streets and will force them out of the Palestinian soil," member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi told FNA on Tuesday.
Naqavi also warned that in case Iran comes under a military attack, the battlefield won't be Iran, but "the entire Europe and the US".
"Iranian forces will fight with the enemies with maximum might and power all throughout the European and US soil, if Iran comes under attack," he reiterated.
The lawmaker noted the reports on certain military measures recently adopted by the British government against Iran, and said, "A look at the history reveals that the British regime has been using threat, intimidation, terror and colonialism all throughout the last 500 years. Now a country with such a long record of crimes and colonialist actions should know very well that the Islamic Republic enjoys a high military capability today."
The remarks by the Iranian legislator came after Israel and its allies intensified war rhetoric against Iran in recent weeks.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said in October that an attack on Iran was becoming increasingly more likely, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the parliament (Knesset) a few weeks later in an effort to garner support for a military attack on Iran.
Supported by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu argued that Israel should proceed with efforts to encourage the West to exert more economic and political pressure on Iran.
Meantime, after the US officials last month accused Iran of devising and conducting an assassination plot on the US soil, several Washington officials called for the assassination of Iranian commanders.
During a hearing of the House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee in late October, a number of US hardliners, including retired US Army General Jack Keane, called on Washington to use covert action against Iran and kill some of its top officials in retaliation for an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's US envoy.
"I'm saying we put our hand around their throat right now in every interest they have," retired Gen. Keane told the hearing.
In reply, Iranian officials said such moves and calls could never intimidate Tehran's military commanders.
Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran first mounted after a big Israeli air drill 3 years ago. In the first week of June 2008, 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters reportedly took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, which was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations.
Israel and its close ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads.
Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Iran has warned that it would target Israel and its worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by the Tel Aviv.
The United States has always stressed that military action is a main option for the White House to deter Iran's progress in the field of nuclear technology.
Iran has warned that in case of an attack by either the US or Israel, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle East and close the strategic Strait of Hormoz.
An estimated 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the energy lifeline.