Iran threatened to “burn” Tel Aviv and U.S. targets in response to any attack on its nuclear sites.
“The first bullet fired by America at Iran will be followed by Iran burning down its vital interests around the globe,” the Iranian news agency ISNA on Tuesday quoted Ali Shirazi, a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying.
“The Zionist regime is pressuring White House officials to attack Iran. If they commit such a stupidity, Tel Aviv and U.S. shipping in the Persian Gulf will be Iran’s first targets and they will be burned.”
The remarks further ratcheted up international concern that Iran’s refusal to abandon nuclear projects with bomb-building potential could bring on preemptive military strikes by Israel or the United States.
There was no immediate response from Washington or Jerusalem to Shirazi’s statement.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
