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.
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
US authorisation, so "whether the Zionist regime attacks with or
without US knowledge, then we will definitely attack US 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.
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 US."
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 programme 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 programme 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.
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