Tehran, Iran – Iran will target NATO’s missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic, a senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday.
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Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, said the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what he described as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel.
Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West since the release of a report earlier this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency that said for the first time that Tehran was suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose was the development of nuclear arms.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of trying to produce atomic weapons, and Israel, which views Tehran as an existential threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.
“Should we be threatened, we will target NATO’s missile defense shield in Turkey and then hit the next targets,” the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Hajizadeh as saying.
Tehran says NATO’s early warning radar station in Turkey is meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with the Jewish state. Ankara agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO’s missile defense system aimed at countering ballistic missile threats from neighboring Iran.
A military installation in the Turkish town of Kurecik, some 435 miles (700 kilometers) west of the Iranian border, has been designated as the radar site, according to Turkish government officials.
Hajizadeh said the United States also plans to install similar stations in Arab states, which has spurred Iran to alter its military defense strategy.
“Based on orders from the exalted commander in chief, we will respond to threats with threats,” he was quoted as saying.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, is also commander in chief of Iran’s armed forces.
Another senior Guard commander, Yadollah Javani, threatened that Tehran will target Israel’s nuclear facilities should the Jewish state attack Iran.
“If Israel fires a missile at our nuclear facilities or vital installations, it should know that Israel’s nuclear centers will be the target of our missiles,” the semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.
Also Saturday, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force said he doesn’t fear assassination and is ready for “martyrdom.”
The comments by Quds Force commander Brig. Gen. Ghassem Soleimani were published in several Iranian newspapers. The Quds Force is the special foreign operations unit of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, and Soleimani is a key figure in Iran’s military establishment but rarely speaks in public.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks between Iran and the U.S., with several American neoconservatives urging the Obama administration to use covert action against Iran and kill some of its top officials, including Soleimani.
The force has been accused by the Americans of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Two men, including an alleged member of Iran’s Quds Force, have been charged in New York federal court in the case.
Iran has dismissed the American claims as a “foolish plot”, saying U.S. officials have offered no proof.
Bomb the nuclear plants NOW.
Sounding better and better! fight as many countries as possible! Now nobody will attack you! hehe, they’ll gang up on you.
Lol, that’s awesome! We bomb Iran and get rid of Turkey-happy Thanksgiving!
its a sign of weakness
Gotta love the picture of the tough Iranian with a PAINTBALL GUN!!!! Turkey- Get ready for a bruisin’!
Rattle the chains of death all you want Iran. I am sure that we will find you are not in the future. G-d has never let us down yet.
Anyone else notice that the tough looking soldier that we are afraid of is carrying a paintball gun???
The only friends Iran will end up with is Russia.
I’m amazed at these armchair generals who want a war started at this point, in the Middle East. Even if EY knocks out the nuclear plants of Iran, it won’t stop Iran from retaliating against EY, with missiles. Thousands of Israelis would be killed in such a strike. The Iranians have a much larger population, and they don’t care if they lose millions of citizens, as long as they would cause massive destruction inside EY. A war in that region will not benefit anyone, whether it is Turkey, EY, Iran, the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, etc. If the world’s supply of oil is disrupted, the world economies would be destroyed, and there would be a worldwide depression. Is that what these armchair generals want? Please!!
The way I see this,is a win win for the Jewish State. You also have to view this as Hashem at work, open miracles.
To #12 - According to Halacha, one is not supposed to do anything to endanger their physical well being. If a preemptive strike can cause tens of thousands of Israeli casualties, isn’t that a violation of Halacha?