'Israel' too feeble for Iran to consider it as a threat: Army chief

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 Apr 2023 23:41

The Israeli occupation is too reliant on the US, and it is too feeble for Iran to perceive it as a direct threat.

In this picture released by the official website of the Iranian Army on Friday, December 30, 2022, an army member flashes a victory sign from his tank in an annual drill in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman (AP)

The Israeli occupation is too feeble to be viewed as a threat to Iran, Iranian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said Monday.

Dismissing claims by his Israeli counterpart about the occupation being ready to attack Iran even without support from the United States, Mousavi underlined that such comments were merely meant to boost the morale of the Israeli soldiers and fix internal Israeli issues.

"Anyone already familiar with the military capabilities of both sides knows well that the updated size and scale of the Zionist regime’s military would maximally correspond only to one of the plentiful operations that Iran’s Armed Forces undertook during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war on the Islamic Republic," Mousavi said.

"The Zionist regime, as it is sinking and the signs of its collapse are now becoming more evident than before, is too feeble to be viewed as a threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran," he stressed.

Furthermore, the Iranian top general highlighted that the actions of the Israeli occupation's leaders, far from rationality and prudence, would only lead to the occupation's demise.

"We are ready to act against Iran. The Israeli army has the ability to strike both in distant countries and near home," IOF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Wednesday.

He further claimed that the IOF would enhance its capabilities for a pre-emptive strike on Iran in the next few years, and such a strike would be "overwhelming" despite the geographical distance.

The statements come amid concerns from "Tel Aviv" about the occupation's faltering plans of an "anti-Iran axis" amid rapprochement between Iran and regional powers.

The Israeli occupation entity considers that the restoration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is deeply concerning and is a major blow to the plans of the entity and the United States, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said Thursday.

"Tel Aviv and Washington in the past years hoped to exploit the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran in order to establish an Israeli-Arab axis against Iran's efforts to create a nuclear weapon" and considered that "the announcement of the agreement, which was achieved with the mediation of China, dealt a severe blow to these hopes."

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen missions in respective countries after a series of talks brokered in Beijing, China, under the auspices of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dreamt of bringing Saudi Arabia into the so-called "Abraham Accords", being an important foreign policy goal. But Saudi Arabia's landmark agreement and restoration of diplomatic relations with Iran have cut that dream short - catching Netanyahu off guard and not ready to face what will be his dream's demise.

Former senior American diplomat Ferial Saeed told Responsible Statecraft that even if the occupation were to strike Iran, regional strategy-wise they wouldn't have access to Saudi airspace or Saudi military facilities, which is another dream crushed.

Tension still remains as Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, maintain the fear of backlash if Iran were to be struck or attacked.

As Saudi-Iran cooperation furthers and develops, it is not only critical but urgent for the region to see how the occupation - amid the internal turmoil it is tackling - will handle these developments, the diplomat underlined.