IRGC Quds Force Official: US, Zionists' Attack against Iran Equal to Razing
Israel
Thu May 21, 2015 12:53
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940231000358

TEHRAN (FNA)- A top official at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Quds Force warned that Tehran will raze Israel to the ground in case the US
or Tel Aviv take military action against Iran.

The remarks by the Iranian Supreme Leader's representative at the IRGC Quds
Force, Ali Shirazi, came after Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
threatened to nuke Iran.

"In case of the smallest wrong action by the US and the Zionists against
Iran, we will raze Israel to the ground easily," Shirazi warned, addressing
a ceremony in the Southeastern city of Kerman on Wednesday evening.

He underlined that Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed
Ali Khamenei's warning that Iran will give an unforgettable lesson to the
enemy is serious since the "the Iranian Armed Forces and the resistance
front enjoy a high level of power".

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, top Military Aide to the Iranian Supreme
Leader Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi described the recent statements of
Ya'alon about nuking Iran as an empty threat, warning that the Islamic
Republic has tens of thousands of missiles ready to wreak havoc on Israel.

"The Zionists and the US are aware of the power of Iran and Hezbollah, and
they know that over 80,000 (Iranian) missiles are ready to rain down on Tel
Aviv and Haifa; Iran is a powerful country which will give a crushing
response to them," Major General Rahim Safavi said in reaction to Ya'alon's
threats against Iran.

He reiterated that the Israeli officials remember well their defeat in the
33-day war against Hezbollah as well as the 22-day and 50-day wars against
the people of Gaza, while when it comes to Iran, they are facing a much
tougher enemy that is a powerful state.

He further reminded the recent statements made by the Iranian Supreme
Leader, and said as Ayatollah Khamenei, who is the commander-in-chief of the
Iranian Armed Forces, has said if the Zionists make a silly move, "we will
ruin Haifa and Tel Aviv".

"The Zionists have many problems and they know that Iran is too powerful for
them grapple with," Rahim Safavi, a former top commander of the IRGC, added.

The top military advisor said that such boastful remarks by the US and
Israeli officials are only meant to serve as a ploy.

"We have displayed part of our military capabilities while we have kept many
of our achievements and capabilities hidden to outsiders; our response will
be crushing not just to the Zionist regime, but to any other aggressor who
intends to take action against us," he added.

Ya'alon claimed last week that Israel would attack entire civilian
neighborhoods during any future assault on Gaza or Lebanon.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem, Ya'alon threatened that “we are going
to hurt Lebanese civilians to include kids of the family. We went through a
very long deep discussion … we did it then, we did it in [the] Gaza Strip,
we are going to do it in any round of hostilities in the future”.

The Israeli official also appeared to threaten to drop a nuclear bomb on
Iran, although he said “we are not there yet”.

In response to a question about Iran, Ya'alon said that “in certain cases”
when “we feel like we don’t have the answer by surgical operations” Israel
might take “certain steps” such as the Americans did in “Nagasaki and
Hiroshima, causing at the end the fatalities of 200,000”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Gholam Ali
Khoshrou lashed out at the Israeli defense minister for raising the
possibility of using atomic weapons against Iran, and asked the UN Security
Council to condemn the remarks as threat against the international peace and
innocent civilians.

"Moshe Ya'alon's recent remarks and the Zionist official's implied reference
to the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic
like what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and also his threats against
the Lebanese civilians, including the women and children, shows more than
ever the regime's aggressive nature," Khoshrou said in a letter today to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Lithuanian Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite,
whose country holds the rotating UN Security council presidency this month.

He underlined that the Israeli minister's comments is an evidence showing
that the regime possesses atomic weapons and isn’t afraid of using it
against other countries.

"The impudent remarks have challenged the primary principles ruling the
armed conflicts and the international humanitarian rights and weaken the
international peace and security and therefore, the UNSC is expected to
condemn these irresponsible remarks and clear threats of using nuclear bomb
and massacre of civilians," the letter added.

Khoshrou also called on the UNSC president to release the letter as the
Council's document.