NICOSIA — For the first time, Iran has threatened Israel as the first target of any strike by the Islamic republic.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that Teheran would strike
Israel immediately after any U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The
IRGC said it was capable of launching missile and other strikes against the
Jewish state, Middle East Newsline reported.
"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first
place that we target will be Israel," Rear Adm. Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani, an
IRGC commander, said on Tuesday.
In April, Deqhani served as spokesman for the IRGC's Holy Prophet
exercise. The week-long exercise was said to have deployed 500 warships in
the Gulf as well as aircraft and missiles.
Teheran has often warned Israel of a massive retaliation. But Western
diplomatic sources said this was the first time Iran said Israel would be
attacked following a U.S. strike.
Iran has deployed the indigenous Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic
missile, capable of striking any target in Israel. The Shihab-3 was believed
to have been tipped with a conventional warhead.
"There are numerous options for Iranian retaliation against Israel," a
diplomatic source said. "I think firing the Shihab-3 is probably the least
likely option."
The diplomatic sources said Iran has been coordinating with Islamic
insurgency groups in the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon and Syria to prepare
for a major strike on Israel. The sources said Hizbullah has deployed
between 12,000 and 15,000 missiles and rockets along the Israeli-Lebanese
border.
Over the last few days, Iranian officials have asserted that the United
States was planning a strike on both Iran and Syria in an effort to topple
their regimes. Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian
said there was "some possibility" of a U.S. attack on Teheran.
"I am worried," Nejad-Hosseinian said. "Everybody is worried."
At the same time, Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi played down
the prospect of a U.S. attack on Iran. He said Iran's military and border
security measures were precautionary.
"It is unlikely the United States would attack Iran," Pour-Mohammadi
told the official Iranian news agency, Irna. "Nevertheless, we should not
disregard precautionary and preventive measures. Enemies have always created
dangers. We have the duty to be vigilant."