Especially from “America and its stooges and the Zionist regime.” But all these threats and all this chest-thumping betrays a certain anxiety.
Saber-rattling from the Islamic Republic: “Iran warns of ‘full force’ response to threats,” by Mohammad Davari for AFP, November 10 (thanks to Ima):
Iran will hit back against any attack or even threat of military action, the country’s supreme leader said Thursday after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons.
Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.
Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran’s enemies, “especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel).”
The supreme leader’s forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
President Shimon Peres said on Saturday that such action was becoming “more and more likely.”…
Defence Minister Ahmad Vahid was quoted by state media as saying “the armed forces of the Islamic republic will powerfully respond to any aggression and threat… Any (action) by the usurper regime (of Israel) will spell its demise.”
A day earlier, armed forces deputy chief Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri also predicted Israel’s “destruction” if it attacks and warned: “Our response would not be limited to the Middle East.”
“Iran is not a nation to sit still and just observe threats from fragile materialist powers which are being eaten by worms from inside,” Khamenei was quoted as telling the military cadets on Thursday.
“Anyone who harbours any thought of invading the Islamic Republic of Iran — or even if the thought crosses their mind — should be prepared to receive strong blows and the steel fists of the military, the (Revolutionary) Guards, and the Basij (militia), or in other words the Iranian nation,” he said.
“Or even if the thought crosses their mind”! Thoughtcrime!
Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani reinforced the message, warning Western governments they “risk breaking their neck if they play certain games,” the state television website reported….