“We were waiting for the Americans to give us a pretext to strike Tel-Aviv, just like we attacked Ayn Al-Assad,” said former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

In a Saturday interview with the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV station, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) promised to “raze Tel-Aviv to the ground” if Iran is ever attacked.

“If [the U.S. does] something, we can use it as a pretext to attack Israel, because Israel played a role in the martyrdom of General Soleimani,” said Mohsen Rezaei, according to an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“It was the Israelis who reported the martyr Soleimani’s trip from Damascus to Baghdad. We are waiting for the Americans to give us a pretext to strike Tel-Aviv, just like we attacked Ayn Al-Assad,” he added.

In January, Rezaei similarly threatened to attack Israel over the assassination of former IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani.

He told a crowd in Tehran that the Israeli city of Haifa and other Israeli cities could be targeted.

“Rest assured we will level to the ground Haifa and Israeli centers so that Israel will be wiped out,” Rezaei said at the time. “The issue is very serious for the Iranian nation. You hit us and you should get hit. You attacked us and it is the Iranian nation’s right.”

He also alleged without offering evidence that Israel leaked information to the U.S. about Soleimani’s whereabouts, which allowed them to carry out the drone strike that killed him.

Rezai was the chief commander of the IRGC during the first Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and unsuccessfully ran for president in 2005, 2009 and 2012.

Meanwhile, Iran unveiled Sunday it’s new Raad-500 short-range ballistic missile.

According to IRGC’s Sepah News website, the Raad-500 is equipped with a lighter engine that gives it a range of up to 500km which makes it more of a threat than their Fateh-110 ballistic missile which tops out at some 300km.

In the past, Iran has been caught disseminating false information about its military capabilities.

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Israel is taking the declaration of Iran’s leaders seriously, Israel Hayom reports on Monday.

The post WATCH: Taking Iran’s threats seriously, Israel increases readiness appeared first on World Israel News.

He also warned that the additional U.S. military troops deployed to the Gulf region will not be safe until they leave.

By World Israel News Staff

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that Iran will catch U.S. President Donald Trump and put him on trial.

“Ultimately, we will catch Trump and place him on trial, God willing. An international court will convene and Trump will have to stand trial. He should stand trial not just for what he did to our people, but for his crimes against other nations as well,” he told Iran’s Channel 2 news agency.

Earlier this month, the U.S. sent 1,500 military personal to Saudi Arabia in response to the attack on Saudi oil facilities, which the U.S. has blamed on Iran.

Rezaei said that the lack of U.S. military response after Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in June is proof of it’s inability to protect Saudi Arabia.

“When the Americans are incapable of retaliating against Iran for the downing of their ultra-secret plane, would they be able to help Saudi Arabia? They cannot defend themselves, so how would they defend Saudi Arabia? Everybody has received that message,” he said.

Khamenei’s adviser warned that the additional U.S. military troops deployed to the Gulf region will not be safe until they leave.

“As long as America, England, and other foreign countries wish to remain in the region, the lack of security of the past 40 years will continue,” Rezaei said. “The first condition for security is the independence of [the region’s] countries.”

“The day the Americans leave the region, all the countries will become friends with one another,” he added.

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