The deputy commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards said the country has over 100,000 missiles in Lebanon alone readied for the “annihilation” of Israel.
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Speaking in a July 1 speech aired on on Iran’s state-run IRIB TV, Brigadier General Hossein Salami also said that Iran has “tens of thousands” of additional missiles that are ready to wipe the “accursed black dot” of Israel off the map, according to a translation from the Farsi by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“Today, more than ever, there is fertile ground — with the grace of God — for the annihilation, the wiping out and the collapse of the Zionist regime,” Salami said, according to the MEMRI translation.
IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami delivers a speech about the destruction of Israel on July 1, 2016 (screen capture: YouTube)
IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami delivers a speech about the destruction of Israel on July 1, 2016 (screen capture: YouTube)
“In Lebanon alone, over 100,000 missiles are ready to be launched. If there is a will, if it serves [our] interests, and if the Zionist regime repeats its past mistakes due to its miscalculations, these missiles will pierce through space, and will strike at the heart of the Zionist regime. They will prepare the ground for its great collapse in the new era,” Salami said.
Lebanon is the base for the Hezbollah terrorist group, a powerful Iranian proxy that waged war with Israel in 2006, during which it fired scores of rockets into the Jewish state. Hezbollah is today believed to have more than 100,000 missiles in its arsenal.
Salami also boasted that “tens of thousands of other high-precision, long-range missiles, with the necessary destructive capabilities, have been placed in various places throughout the Islamic world.”
“They are just waiting for the command, so that when the trigger is pulled, the accursed black dot will be wiped off the geopolitical map of the world, once and for all,” he said, referring to Israel.
Salami’s remarks came days before Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it is closely watching Iran’s attempts to procure nuclear and missile technology.
A missile launched from the Alborz mountains in Iran on March 9, 2016, reportedly inscribed in Hebrew, 'Israel must be wiped out.' (Fars News)
A missile launched from the Alborz mountains in Iran on March 9, 2016, reportedly inscribed in Hebrew, ‘Israel must be wiped out.’ (Fars News)
German intelligence agencies reported dozens of such attempts last year, according to the Associated Press. A separate report by a German domestic intelligence agency said that counter-espionage officials had spotted 141 procurement attempts in one German state in the last year.
Martin Schaefer, a spokesman for Germany’s Foreign Ministry, said that Germany and its partners would work to enforce the agreement signed in Vienna last July meant to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
“We are already talking to our partners in New York and elsewhere, and we won’t hesitate to discuss this with Tehran,” he said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report