Israel’s actions are creating conditions for its own destruction, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander on Friday told a Jerusalem Day rally at which the country’s new domestically-made Kheibar Buster missile was displayed.
“Stop your vicious deeds. You know well that we are people of action and reaction,” Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, addressing Israel, told demonstrators in Tehran.
“Our responses are painful. You create conditions for your own destruction. We will not leave you alone ...You know better than me what will befall you if you take evil action.”
Iran’s military has vowed to retaliate harshly against any attack by Israel, which has often voiced concern over the Iranian nuclear program. Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.
Israel has long threatened military action against Iran if talks between Tehran and world powers fail to curb Iranian nuclear activity.
In February, Tehran unveiled its “Kheibar Buster” missile with a range of 1,450 kilometers.
Iran says its ballistic missiles have a range of up to 2,000 km and are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel and US bases in the region.
State television said millions of Iranians joined rallies marking Quds Day, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, in state-organized marches across the country.
It showed the Israeli flag being set on fire and groups of people around the country shouting choreographed “Death to America, Death to Israel” slogans.
Supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech that anti-Israeli protests and attacks showed that Palestinians rejected compromises by Arab authorities with Israel.
President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s military commanders and senior officials also attended the rallies in which people were allowed to march through the streets, the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.
Iran's Jerusalem Day rallies are held annually in support of Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in territories captured by Israel in a 1967 war, on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
