Iran threatens US, Israeli targets 'in range of Iranian rockets'

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iran continued to make threats on Friday of attacking US personnel and Israeli cities "in range of Iranian rockets” and Iranian-backed forces in retaliation to possible US military action against Iran.

Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Mohdi-Kermani, who speaks on the behalf of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said during a sermon that Tehran would retaliate with force to any such military action after stating that “the US wouldn’t dare attack Iran.”

“Thousands of deployed [Iranian and Iran-backed] forces in Syria, Lebanon, and others nearby have powerful missiles capable of laying Israel’s Tel Aviv and Haifa in ruins,” the cleric proclaimed, warning of the “terrible consequences” that would await the US and Israel.

“The times of hit-and-run tactics are over,” Kermani continued. "There are tens of thousands” of American targets in “countries in the [Middle-East] region and the Persian Gulf that are in range of Iranian rockets.”

As a show of military might, the Ayatollah pointed to the recently unveiled “100 percent domestically produced” military plane with suspicious similarities to the US-made F-5 which made its maiden flight almost 60 years ago.

“Unless they are blind, the enemy sees our first highly advanced Iranian fighter jet by the name of Kowsar that was revealed days ago.”

He told his audience, "your enemies" may possess more advanced weaponry, but were still doomed to "suffer defeat" as "they do not have God.”

During his sermon for Eid al-Adha prayers on Wednesday, another speaker on behalf of Khamenei named Ayatollah Saiyd Ahmad Khatami declared, “They know if they harm this country and this state in the slightest way, the United States and its main ally in the region, the Zionist regime, would be targeted.”

In the meantime, the US continues to point out that regime change in Iran is not Washington’s policy, claiming instead that what the current administration wants is substantial change in the Islamic regime’s behavior.

Editing by John J. Catherine