More Iranian threats to 'Zionist Entity' and US

A Reuters news story notes that Iran's Republican Guard has announed that the  "Zionist Entity"  is in range of their  missiles. According to the story, Iran could hit back with missiles if Israel attacked it and could also rely on allies in the region (meaning Hezbollah in Lebanon)  to strike, as stated by the commander of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday.

 

The commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari told Mehr News agency, "Our strategic calculations show that if the Zionist regime wants to make the smallest move against our interests, either independently or with America, in the shortest time all the territories under the Zionist regime's control will become unsafe."

 

"That country is completely in the range of the Islamic Republic's missiles. The missile capabilities of our armed forces is such that the Zionist regime, with all its capabilities, would not be able to confront it," he added.

 

The Guards are an 'ideologically motivated' (meaning "religious fanatic") arm of Iran's military with an independent command structure from the regular armed forces. They have their own land, sea and air units. Though Reuters did not discuss the issue, the prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of these fanatics is not appetizing.

 

"The Israelis know that if they take action against Iran definitely the capabilities that the Islamic world and especially the Shi'ite world has in the region would deliver a hard blow to them," Jafari said. No doubt he was referring to the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Iranian funded Islamic Jihad. The Reuters article incorrectly included Hamas as part of the "Shi'ite" world (all those Muslims look the same to them). Hamas might join in the fun, but they are Sunni Arabs.

 

Jafari also said U.S. troops were vulnerable because of their presence in the region. Washington has troops based in Iran's neighbours of Iraq and Afghanistan, and naval forces in the Gulf, along which Iran has a long coastline.

 

"The presence of these forces enables Iran to harm America's interests in different ways...not even using its missile capability," he said.