Skip to main content

Iranian army troops march in a military parade commemorating the start of the Iraq-Iran war 32 years ago, in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012.Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press

Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike if Israel prepares to attack it, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander told broadcaster Al-Alam on Sunday, a day after his boss warned that conflict was inevitable.

Should Israel and Iran engage militarily, "nothing is predictable... and it will turn into World War III," Brigadier-General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told Iran's Arabic-language television network.

Brig.-Gen. Hajizadeh, who is in charge of Revolutionary Guards missile systems, said: "In circumstances in which they (the Israelis) have prepared everything for an attack, it is possible that we will make a pre-emptive attack. But we do not see this at the moment."

He added that Iran would deem any Israeli strike to be conducted with U.S. authorization, so "whether the Zionist regime attacks with or without U.S. knowledge, then we will definitely attack U.S. bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan."

He warned that Israel "cannot imagine our response – and it will sustain heavy damage and that will be a prelude to its obliteration."

On Saturday, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said war between Iran and Israel "will eventually happen, but it is not certain where and when."

It was the first time a senior Iranian official had acknowledged a probability of war breaking out between the two arch-foes.

Gen. Jafari, quoted by the ISNA and Fars news agencies, also said such a conflict would lead to the annihilation of Israel.

"If they begin (aggression), it will spell their destruction and will be the end of the story," he said.

On Sunday, Jafari's deputy, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, told Fars in an interview that Iran's "defensive strategy is based on the assumption that we will engage in a war, a massive battle against a global coalition led by the U.S."

He said the Islamic republic had made preparations to "crush" the enemy by hitting "enemy bases in the region, the security of the Zionist regime (Israel) and the energy market, as well as the lives of enemy forces."

He added: "We will not start a war. But if someone wages war against us, we will launch continuous offensives."

Tensions have risen significantly in recent weeks, with Israel threatening to unleash air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israel believes Iran's nuclear program to be aimed at developing an atomic weapons capability that would menace its existence and its current status as the Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear weapons power.

Iran insists that its atomic program is exclusively for peaceful, civilian ends, but it is locked in a deepening stand-off with the UN nuclear watchdog and the UN Security Council over the issue.

A senior Iranian lawmaker accused the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Sunday of passing confidential information about Iran's nuclear activities to Israel.

In the latest sign of strained relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Javad Jahangirzadeh, a member of parliament's presiding board, said IAEA chief Yukiya Amano would be to blame if Iran reduced its ties with the body.

"Amano's repeated trips to Tel Aviv and asking the Israeli officials' views about Iran's nuclear activities indicates that Iran's nuclear information has been disclosed to the Zionist regime (Israel) and other enemies of the Islamic Republic," Mr. Jahangirzadeh was quoted as saying by Iran's English-language Press TV.

The IAEA was not immediately available to comment. Records show Mr. Amano has made only one visit to Israel in his capacity as IAEA chief, in August, 2010. He visited Tehran in May this year.

"If the agency's actions lead to Iran cutting cooperation with this international body, all responsibility will be with the IAEA director general," said Jahangirzadeh, also a member of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee.

Last week, Iranian nuclear energy chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani said "terrorists" might have infiltrated the Vienna-based agency. He suggested the IAEA included too much sensitive information about Iran's nuclear program in its reports that he said could be used by saboteurs.

Western diplomats dismissed his allegations as an attempt to distract attention away from the agency's bid to gain access to a site in Iran it suspects was used for nuclear weapons research, something Tehran denies.

With a report from Reuters

Interact with The Globe