Tehran: Iran dares Israel to attack, because
the retaliation would send the Jewish state to "the dustbin of
history," a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said,
according to the Fars news agency on Monday.
"Our greatest wish is that they commit such a mistake,"
the chief of the Guards' aerospatial division, Amir-Ali
Hadjizadeh, was quoted as saying.
"For some time there has been a hidden energy we hope to
expend to consign the enemies of Islam forever to the dustbin
of history," he said.
"Our ballistic (missile) capacity never ceases to grow,"
he added.
The comments were one of the most belligerent reactions
yet by an Iranian official to speculation that Israel was
considering launching air strikes on Iranian nuclear
facilities.
The threat -- raised recently in Israeli media reports,
and by Israeli President Shimon Peres -- comes amid rising
international tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.
A November 8 report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, said intelligence strongly
suggested Iran was researching nuclear weapons.
Iran has denied its nuclear programme has any military
dimension.
Government officials have said they are willing to
cooperate with the IAEA, while Iranian military officers have
talked up their country's ability to counter-attack if strikes
are launched.
PTI
First Published: Monday, November 21, 2011, 18:03