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Khamenei: Iran is ‘on the border of the Zionist regime’

“If the first stage of the Islamic Revolution was typified by the closing of the Zionist embassy in our country, then in the second stage we are on the border of the Zionist regime,” Iran’s Supreme Leader stated.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khameini, declared Wednesday that the Islamic Republic was firmly entrenched on Israel’s border and ready to fight.

The Ayatollah was speaking at a gathering of his Basij internal security paramilitary group in a Tehran stadium during a week in which ceremonies and mass marches were held in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

“If the first stage of the Islamic Revolution was typified by the closing of the Zionist embassy in our country, then in the second stage we are on the border of the Zionist regime and are ready for any possible conflict with it,” he said, according to a translation by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).

Khamenei also made an “important announcement” aimed at Iran’s youth against Israel and the United States. According to a translation released by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), he outlined the achievements of the revolution and encouraged the next generation to “bring it closer and closer to its great aspiration – creating a new Islamic civilization and readiness for the sun of the Mahdi [redeemer of Islam] to rise.”

In apparent support for terrorism, he committed to backing Palestinians who are fighting Israel from within its borders and “defending” Islamic resistance throughout the region.

Khamenei confirmed the American and Israeli statements that Iran is involved in weapons proliferation in the Middle East.

“And if in those days the problem of the West was to prevent Iran from acquiring the most primitive weapons, today the problem of the West is to prevent the transfer of advanced Iranian weapons to the resistance forces [in the region],” he said, tweeting the same message in English as well.

In recent years, Israel has pushed back against Iran’s attempts to send arms and advanced missile technology to its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon. The IDF has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military targets in Syria in order to prevent the Islamic Republic’s entrenchment on the northern border.

Just before boarding a plane to a Warsaw conference on the security challenges in the Middle East Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again reaffirmed Israel’s determination in this area. “What we are doing is pushing and driving Iran from Syria. We are committed to doing this,” he asserted.