Iran will ‘bulldoze’ Israel in any war, says chief of staff

Gen. Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi threatens to “destroy the illegal Zionist nest,” if Israel attacks.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Clerics at Iran's Assembly of Experts meeting, Tehran_370 (photo credit: Raheb Homavandi/Reuters)
Clerics at Iran's Assembly of Experts meeting, Tehran_370
(photo credit: Raheb Homavandi/Reuters)
Gen. Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran’s chief of staff, threatened to “bulldoze” and “destroy the illegal Zionist nest,” if Israel attacks the Islamic Republic, Iran’s official news agency INRA reported on Saturday.
Firouzabadi made the comments in a Nowruz speech to military officials, during which he said Iran would “flatten” strategic locations in Israel if attacked, INRA said.
The government’s official Iran newspaper also carried the story on its front page Sunday.
Nowruz was almost three weeks ago, and the state media’s decision to print the story comes as critical negotiations with the West over Iran’s nuclear program loom and amid mounting reports that the US and its European allies may demand the Islamic Republic close and dismantle its heavily-fortified Fordo nuclear plant, near Qom.
Israel has made repeated threats to use force against Iran if it fails to respond to international sanctions and diplomacy regarding its nuclear program.
However, according to the Iranian press reports, Firouzabadi claimed in his speech that Iran had reduced the threat of war with Israel due to the Islamic Republic’s “deterrent power.”
The military leader added that “apart from the occupiers of Jerusalem, who are already on death row, nobody else is whispering about war.”
“The Zionist regime should listen to its leaders and stop their paranoia,” the chief of staff said.
Firouzabadi, whom Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed chief of staff in 2002, is also a member of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, which determines Iran’s defense and national security polices as well as formulating the country’s nuclear policy.
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