Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
"Every now and then the leaders of the Zionist regime threaten Iran with a military attack," Khamenei said in a live televised speech from the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, referring to Israel.
"They should know that if they commit such a blunder, the Islamic republic will annihilate Tel Aviv and Haifa," he said.
Iran is said to possess ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel. It also has close relations with Israel's foes in the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian militants in the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip.
Khamenei spoke with little sign of an easing in Tehran's position in its confrontation with the West over its disputed nuclear programme of uranium enrichment.
Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear power, suspects that Tehran is seeking atomic arms, a fear shared by the United States and Western powers, and has not ruled out a military strike.
Washington has also refused to rule out the military option, but insists it prefers a diplomatic solution to the nuclear stand-off.
US President Barack Obama in Israel on Wednesday accepted that the Jewish state would not cede its right to confront Iran's nuclear threat to the United States.
COMMENTS (16)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Historian 1:
Lol.... and he stands in need of your consideration. You need more history lessons!
What a joke
Gulam Rasool"Kuldeep sharma" New Delhi
I would consider ayatollah a wise person if he condemns killings of Shia in Pakistan rather than talking rhetoric against a super power.
Dont get paranoid people... Israel does not have the guts to attack Iran. Remember how a handful of Hizbullah chaps slapped Israel few years ago???
@Ch. Allah Daad: But Sadam and Qaddafi were posing they had nuclear weapons, which they didn't, nor had enough capabilities. Iran must have some thing to cheer about
@Ch. Allah Daad: Saddam was an American stooge gone rogue...Qaddafi was the pinnacle of showmanship both were in userpers of power which they got through coup... but this guy is serious...he doesnt appear in public spotlight much and this very guy has lost one arm while defending his country...I think this is not just rhetoric by Khamenei he means every word of it.
@Ch. Allah Daad: And Sadam and Gaddafi were prime opponents of Iran and Islamic revolution. See Imam Khomeni's advice to Saddam
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=q94ckSemT94&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dq94ckSemT94
The only difference was that Hitler was at least a man!
Sadam and Qaddafi used same rhetoric but when time comes these leaders hide in holes.
What Khamenei said is 101% right. Everyone can see that USA has done mass killing of people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc. israel is doing same killing in Palestine and with all NATO and UN support.
Khamenei has full right to response and attach to save his country and his innocent people. At least he is one of Muslim leader who is talking eyes to eyes with usa/israeli devils.
love u great leader
@cautious. He is more concerned about his civilians first. Israel better not start a war with Iran as Iran will have no choice but to go after them. What is he supposed to say as the leader oh we won't be too nice if we are attacked.
Annihilation is not a trivial event specifically from the point of view of human life loss, whatever the cause or place be. A scholar of his stature should be more cautious in his remarks.
@cautious:
Nothing wrong from learning from enemies. US did the same (annihilate) Japanese cities in WW2. Iran has not attacked a country in last 150 years. I doubt if they will do it this time. So any (re)action would be in response to an attack from outside.
Stay Cautious but don't get paranoid.
The term annihilate indicates that he has no concern about civilian casualties - might have been better had he left such rhetoric to Ahmadinejad - after all he's suppose to be the religious leader of the country.