Iranian general: Israel’s collapse may come in less than a quarter of a century

Foreign minister says nuclear agreement to be implemented only on supreme leader’s terms

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Updated: OCTOBER 27, 2015 02:28
An Iranian flag flutters in front of the United Nations headquarters (photo credit: REUTERS)
An Iranian flag flutters in front of the United Nations headquarters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The commander of Iran’s ground forces vowed that their long-range missiles would rain down on Israel if it made any move against his country.
The “Zionist regime’s” collapse may occur in less than 25 years, said Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan in an interview with Iran’s Al Alam TV, Tasnim News Agency reported on Monday.
Ayatollah Khamenei said similarly last month that “God willing there will be nothing left of the Zionist regime in 25 years.”
“Meanwhile, the heroic jihadi Islamic spirit will not leave the Zionists in peace for a second,” Khamenei had also added.
In his remarks, Pourdastan said, “we are willing for Israel to take action [against Iran], so that we would turn the supreme leader’s remarks into reality as soon as possible.”
Separately, the Iranian parliament condemned Israel’s “atrocities” against the Palestinians.
“The parliament condemns the Zionist regime’s savage acts... and declares its support for the innocent Palestinian people’s struggle,” said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Monday, the country’s Fars News Agency reported.
“The Zionists’ adventurism in Palestine is another dimension of opportunism,” he said, charging Israel was taking advantage of chaos in Islamic countries “to extend their domination over Holy Jerusalem and the West Bank by killing the innocent Palestinian people.”
Separately, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told parliament on Monday that the country would implement a July 14 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or nuclear deal with world powers, according to guidelines set by the supreme leader.
Conditions set out by Khamenei effectively give him the power to bypass the government and cancel the nuclear deal, the head of MEMRI’s (the Middle East Media Research Institute) Iran desk, Ayelet Savyon, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Khamenei published a letter of guidelines for President Hassan Rouhani, adding new conditions for Iran’s execution of the deal.
Yigal Carmon, president of the Washington-based MEMRI and Savyon said the letter was posted on Khamenei’s website last Wednesday in Farsi, tweeted from his Twitter account and posted on his Facebook page in English.
“The set of conditions laid out by Khamenei creates a situation in which not only does the Iranian side refrain from approving the JCPOA but, with nearly every point, creates a separate obstacle, such that executing the agreement is not possible,” Carmon and Savyon wrote.
One of the 10 new demands made by Khamenei is that the US and Europe provide “solid and sufficient” guarantees they will drop sanctions before Iran complies with its commitments under the agreement. The letter also rules out any snapback option, saying it would be considered “non-compliance” with the agreement.
Another condition says any sanctions against Iran “at every level and on every pretext,” including terrorism and human rights violations, would “constitute a violation of the JCPOA .”
Reuters contributed to this report.