Iran would “set on fire” Israel and the US Navy in the Persian Gulf as its first response to any US attack over its nuclear program, an aide to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday.<>ted States’ vital interests in the world on fire,” said Ali Shirazi, a middle-ranking cleric who is Khamenei’s representative to the naval forces of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.
“Tel Aviv and the US fleet in the Persian Gulf would be the targets that would be set on fire in Iran’s crushing response,” the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
The US and its top regional ally Israel have never ruled out attacking Iran over its nuclear drive, which the West fears could be aimed at making nuclear weapons.
There has been concern an attack against Iran could be imminent after it emerged Israel had carried out maneuvers in Greece that were effectively practice runs for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Shirazi said “the Zionist regime is pressuring the White House leaders to plan a military assault on Iran” and Iran would react “if they commit such a stupidity.”
It was not clear if he was referring to Tel Aviv as a city or as shorthand for the Jewish state as a whole, which the Islamic republic does not recognize.
His comments came as the Revolutionary Guards embarked on a new round of war games to sharpen their combat readiness amid continued tensions in the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The Great Prophet III maneuvers by the missile and naval sections of the Revolutionary Guards are aimed at “improving the combat capability” of the forces, Fars reported.
The Guards are responsible for Iran’s most significant ballistic missiles including the Shahab-3 missile, whose range puts Israel and US bases in the Gulf within reach.
However diplomatic efforts are also continuing. Iran has responded to an offer from world powers to end the nuclear crisis and diplomats are analyzing what is said to be a complex answer from Tehran.
The offer from world powers proposes that Iran suspends uranium enrichment — the process which they fear could be used to make a nuclear weapon — in exchange for technological incentives.
But in the latest sign that Iran is not willing to compromise on the key question of enrichment, its envoy to London said world powers were “wasting their time” by insisting on this issue.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
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