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Official: Iran to target Israel, US bases if attacked

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-12 21:54

Tehran -- Iran would target the heart of Israel and 32 US bases in the Middle East if Iran is under attack, an aide to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday.

In a handout picture released on the website of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, four missiles rise into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert.[Agencies]

"In case the United States and Israel dare to shoot a bullet, Iran will target the heart of Israel and 32 US bases in the region imminently," said Mojtaba Zolnoor, vice representative of Khamenei to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

"Now the Iranian armed forces, including the Revolutionary Guards, enjoy the full preparation against any threat from the enemy," Zolnoor told a unit of the IRGC in the northern city of Mashhad.

In case the enemy forces attack Iran, they will receive a very sharp blow, he said, adding that the IRGC is much stronger than what it had been in the earlier days of the Islamic Revolution.

"The US and Israel doubt that their raid against Iran will lead to success, otherwise they surely had never delayed it to the other day," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said that any attacks against the Islamic republic would be an "act of stupidity."

"Any attacks or military actions against Iran would be an act of stupidity and the repercussions would hurt everyone," Elham told reporters.

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied the US charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

The Bush administration said it focused on diplomacy to try to resolve Iran's nuclear issue, but insisted it will take "no option off the table."

Some observers believe that it is still possible that the United States and Israel would attack the Iranian targets for Tehran's suspicious nuclear programs.