Iran will destroy Haifa and Tel Aviv if Israel takes “the slightest action” against it, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Tuesday during an Army Day address, according to the Iranian Tasnim media agency.
“The extra-regional and American forces should leave the region as soon as possible because it is in their own interest and in the interest of the region,” he said.
“The extra-regional and American forces should leave the region as soon as possible because it is in their own interest and in the interest of the region.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Raisi said that Iran’s army is “well equipped and up-to-date” and that it “sees itself as a servant by the side of the people.”
Iran’s former crown prince visits Israel
This speech came as the former crown prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi visited Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
During his visit, Pahlavi underscored a message of unity between the people of Israel and Iran, saying that the Islamic Republic does not represent the majority of the Iranian people.
But Pahlavi’s message of peace is not shared by the Islamic Republic who consistently threatens Israel in a variety of ways from speeches like Raisi’s to exhibitions of missiles with “death to Israel” written down the side of them in Hebrew.
The threat is not just verbal though. A report last week claimed that the IRGC ordered the rockets that were fired at Israel from Gaza and Lebanon at the beginning of Passover while the Shin Bet revealed on Monday that the IRGC has been recruiting Palestinians in the West Bank to spy on IDF activity for Iran.
Iran’s Army Day is a national holiday that has been celebrated in honor of the army since 1921. Before the Islamic Republic took control of the country in 1979, the day was marked in February, but in 1979, then-supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini changed the day to April 18.