Ali Akbar Salehi, who head’s Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, dismisses Israel as a threat to the Islamic Republic and Tehran’s refusal to acknowledge Israel as such, renders any warnings from the Jewish state as “empty threats.” Salehi was quoted as saying:
“[w]e essentially do not see [Israel] as a state, therefore it’s not a threat to Iran”
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in response to a question regarding the probability of an Israeli-Iranian war in light of the nuclear deal being passed. Salehi is merely parroting the same mantra Iran has been saying for years and has no bearing on Israel’s continued readiness planning in protecting itself.
Regardless of the Iranian nuclear deal, Israel continues to maintain its military readiness for any scenario that may happen between them and the Islamic Republic by further developing and building up their long-range capabilities, which is supervised by the Israeli Air Force’s Air Operations; this branch was created during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Last August, Iranian official Hossein Sheikholeslam was quoted as saying,
“Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan.”
While Iranian President Rouhani continues to address Iran’s participation in the fight on terrorism (ISIS), they are actively engaging in terrorism directly and/or indirectly. The blatant hypocrisy of Iran on terrorism is so obvious, that its even in the news (Iranian Ambassador Mohammed Fathali was quoted in Lebanese state-run news saying that Iran would compensate the families of Palestinian martyrs) and recently, terror group Hamas sought to renew ties with the Islamic Republic as well. There’s no doubt that Iran and its state-sponsored terrorist groups are threats to Israel and because of this ongoing threat, Israel must maintain a defensive posture at all times.
The recent comments by Iranian officials Ali Akbar Salehi, Hossein Sheikholeslam and Iranian Ambassador Mohammed Fathali leave nothing to the imagination that Iran despises Israel with a passion; a hatred that’s reinforced by the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani.
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