1939 Alert. “Report: Iran to hit Israel if attacked,” by Ali Akbar Dareini for Associated Press, June 28 :
TEHRAN, Iran – The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that Tehran would respond to an attack against it by barraging Israel with missiles and controlling a key oil passageway in the Persian Gulf, said a newspaper report published Saturday.
The report in the conservative Jam-e-Jam newspaper comes after the disclosure of a recent Israeli military exercise over the Mediterranean Sea that was seen as sending a message to Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said there were strong deterrents against striking Iran, including the country’s missile power, the vulnerability of Israeli and U.S. forces in the region and the low probability of a successful attack….
“Naturally, any country coming under attack will use all of its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy. Given the main route for energy to exit the region, one of Iran’s steps will definitely be to exercise control on the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” Jafari told Jam-e-Jam, which is affiliated with Iran’s state-run radio and television network.
In 2006, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also threatened to disrupt the world’s oil supply if the United States attacked Iran. Iran is the world’s fourth largest oil producer. About 60 percent of the world’s oil passes through the strait.
“Should a confrontation erupt between us and the enemy, the scope will definitely reach the oil issue. … Oil prices will dramatically increase. This is one of the factors deterring the enemy from taking military action,” Jafari was quoted as saying….
Jafari also warned that an attack against Iran will also prompt Muslims, including Shiites, to harm U.S. and Israeli interests throughout the Middle East in retaliation to any attack against Iran. He mentioned the Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Now why would Muslims do that, over a localized struggle over a small bit of land?