Iranian Guard commander: Our 'hands remain on the trigger' to attack Israel

Deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatens that Tehran is able to "destroy every spot" in Israel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Hossein Salami, deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hossein Salami, deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander said Tuesday the Islamic Republic was prepared and keeping a finger "on the trigger" to attack and destroy Israel at any time given the need.
“Today, we can destroy every spot which is under the Zionist regime's control with any volume of fire power (that we want) right from here,” Iran's Fars news agency quoted Deputy Commander of the Revolutionary Guard Brig.-Gen. Hossein Salami as saying.
“Islam has given us this wish, capacity and power to destroy the Zionist regime so that our hands will remain on the trigger from 1,400km away for the day when such an incident (confrontation with Israel) takes place,” he added.
Speaking at a conference in Tehran, Salami continued his threatening rhetoric, stating that Iran was not the only state that had the capability of destroying Israel.
Salami's remarks came almost a week after the Israel Navy intercepted a ship laden with weapons Iran was using to smuggle to Gaza.
Earlier in the month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged Iran's military leaders to tone down hostile rhetoric and let diplomacy prevail in dealing with potential foreign threats.
"It is very important to formulate one's sentences and speeches in a way that is not construed as threat, intention to strike a blow," Rouhani said in a meeting with Iran's top military echelon.
"We must be very careful in our calculations. Launching missiles and staging military exercises to scare off the other side is not good deterrence, although a necessity in its proper place," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
"A misfire could burst into flames and wreak havoc to everything."