“Israel” issues strongest threat yet against Iran

“Israel” issued its strongest threat yet against Iran Thursday, warning it would do to it what it has done to Hamas in Gaza after Iran-backed Houthi group attacked Ben Gurion airport.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said any attack by the United States or Israel would "open the gates of hell".

Along with Hezbollah and Hamas, Yemen's Houthis are part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against “Israel” and its Washington ally.

“Israel” hit back against the Houthi missile attack on its airport on Sunday by striking the airport in Yemen's capital Sanaa and three power stations in the impoverished country.

"I warn... Iranian leaders who finance, arm and exploit the Houthi terrorist organisation: the proxy system is terminated and the axis of evil has collapsed," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

"You are directly responsible. What we have done to Hezbollah in Beirut, to Hamas in Gaza, to (now ousted Syrian president Bashar) Assad in Damascus, we will do to you in Tehran too."

He warned that “Israel” would not allow "any entity to harm Israel".

"Israel should be able to defend itself... against any threat and against any enemy," Katz added.

"This has been the case with several challenges in the past, and it will continue to be the case in future.

"Anyone who attacks us will be severely struck."

In a video carried by Iran's Tasnim news agency, Revolutionary Guards chief Salami said "these are serious warnings to the Zionist and American authorities... If you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you".

Core principal

The threats come after Iran and the United States engaged in three rounds of nuclear talks, their highest-level contact since Washington withdrew from a landmark deal with Tehran in 2018.

“Israel” has been concerned about the progress of Iran's nuclear programme since Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the international agreement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who views the talks unfavourably, has called for dismantling Iran's nuclear programme, saying a credible deal must "remove Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons" and prevent the development of ballistic missiles.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.

Shmuel Rosner, a research fellow at the Jewish People's Policy Institute in Jerusalem, told AFP it was difficult to know whether Katz’s threats are "a bluff or not".

He added that “Israel” will probably "wait and see" the results of the dialogue between Washington and Tehran.

If the talks lead to an agreement that "puts Israel at risk, then Israel will have to consider what it can and should do to defend itself,” Rosner added.

"That's a core principle of all Israeli governments since the establishment of the state, that we do not subcontract our security to other countries," he said.