The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened that if the United States and Israel “commit an error”, his forces will attack them.
Hossein Salami speaking in a ceremony in memory of Qassem Soleimani killed by a U.S. drone on January 3 in Baghdad was responding to earlier remarks by the Israeli defense minister.
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennet had said on February 10 Israel will counter Iran in Syria and the United States in Iraq according to a division of work between Washington and Tel Aviv.
Salami added that the presence of Iranian forces and its proxies in the region is proof that Israel and the United States have been defeated in the region and “a new Middle East” has been created.
He warned Israeli officials that “If you want to bet on America, you should definitely look at the sea because that would be your final residence”.
Since 1948, some anti-Israeli leaders in the region, including the one-time Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser have threatened to “throw Israel into the sea”. Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have called for the annihilation of Israel on many occasions.
Iran foreign ministery spokesman Abbas Mousavi on February 12 also responded to Bennet's remarks, saying, "The Islamic Republic of Iran will give a crushing response that will cause regret to any kind of aggression or stupid action from this regime against our country's interests in Syria and the region".
Israel has vowed not to allow Iran to entrench itself in Syria, where the IRGC has deployed forces in recent years to support the country’s strongman Bashar al-Assad.
