Iran Intelligence (http://www.iranintelligence.com/iranwords.html)
Threat Against Israel
"The Muslim world will not forget its historic right and will resist tyranny and occupation ... the Zionist regime is a wound that has set on the body of the Muslim world for years and needs to be removed."
President-Elect Hassan Rouhani - July 31, 2013
"Syria has constantly been on the frontline of fighting Zionism and this resistance line must not be weakened ... Syria has a particular position in the region and in the past 60 years has formed the resistance line against the Zionist regime [of Israel]."
President-Elect Hassan Rouhani - January 10, 2012
"We do not recognize the existence of the Zionist regime and, as Muslims, we cannot accept this injustice, which goes against all international law."
Presidential Candidate Gholam Ali Haddad Adel - May 16, 2013
"There is a Zionist enemy, but the Zionist regime is not that big ... at times the officials of the Zionist regime threaten us, they threaten to launch a military invasion, but I think that they themselves know - and if they don't know, they should know - that if they make the slightest mistake, then the Islamic establishment will raze Haifa and Tel Aviv to the ground."
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei - March 21, 2013
"The Iranian people are ready to march on Israel to destroy it if it launches an attack adventure against Iran. The Zionists hope to attack Iran but they are afraid of the Iranian reaction and the consequences of such an attack. Our forces can deter any aggressor and make them pay."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - February 6, 2013
"If the Zionists act against Iran it will be a historic opportunity for the Islamic Revolution to wipe them off the world's geographic history."
IRGC Deputy Commander Brig-Gen. Hossein Salami - September 24, 2012
http://www.iranintelligence.com/terror.html
Iran is the patron - spiritually and financially - for most of the region's Islamic militants. It is the Iranian model of revolution, its institution of Islamic law and its anti-Western philosophy that characterize the rhetoric of many extremist groups. And it is Iranian money that often pays for the weapons, training and literature that are the backbone of Islamic extremist violence.
The United States designated Iran as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984. According to the State Department's 2011 report on terrorism, "Iran was known to use the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and terrorist insurgent groups to implement its foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and support terrorist and militant groups."
Tehran has been linked to numerous anti-West and anti-Israel terrorist attacks, ranging from taking hostages and hijacking airliners to carrying out assassinations and bombings. Some of these incidents include the taking of more than 30 Western hostages in Lebanon from 1984 through 1992, the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days, the bombings of the U.S. Embassy and the French-U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the 1992 terrorist attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and on the Argentine Jewish communal building in 1994.
http://www.iranintelligence.com/assessments.html
Return of the Twelfth Imam
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes the most important task of the Iranian Revolution was to prepare the way for the return of the Twelfth Imam, who disappeared in 874, bringing an end to Muhammad's lineage. This imam, the Mahdi or "divinely guided one," Shiites believe, will return in an apocalyptic battle in which the forces of righteousness will defeat the forces of evil and bring about a new era in which Islam ultimately becomes the dominant religion throughout the world. The Shiites have been waiting patiently for the Twelfth Imam for more than a thousand years, but Ahmadinejad believes he can now hasten the return through a nuclear war. Ayatollah Hussein Nuri Hamdani explicitly said in 2005 that "the Jews should be fought against and forced to surrender to prepare the way for the coming of the Hidden Imam." It is this apocalyptic world view, Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis notes, that distinguishes Iran from other governments with nuclear weapons.
Lewis quotes a passage from Ayatollah Khomeini cited in an 11th grade Iranian schoolbook, "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against the whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all of them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom, which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
Rationality vs. Theology
Optimists also suggest the Iranians are driven more by rationality than theology and would not risk using nuclear weapons. Others believe they are irrational and therefore cannot be trusted to hold their fire. One does not have to believe the Iranians are irrational, however, to foresee the possibility of an attack on Israel with nuclear weapons. Rafsanjani, the President of Iran before Ahmadinejad, was just as adamant about destroying Israel as his successor. Contrary to the old aphorism that you can't win a nuclear war, he argued that Iran could achieve victory. He said that "Israel is much smaller than Iran in land mass, and therefore far more vulnerable to nuclear attack." Since Iran has 70 million people and Israel only has seven million, Rafsanjani believed Iran could survive an exchange of nuclear bombs while Israel would be annihilated. The rhetoric was bombastic, but he and other Iranian leaders might first consider the possibility that Israel could conceivably launch far more missiles and the outcome might be very different than he imagined.
Rafsanjani is correct about Israel's vulnerability. Besides the population difference, the disparity in size of the countries is such that it does not take a whole arsenal of ICBMS like the old Soviet Union had to destroy Israel; Iran need only have three crude bombs to attack Israel's three major population centers - Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem - and it's goodbye Israel.
http://www.iranintelligence.com/catastrophe.html
The motivations of these critics of military action vary and include those who:
• Oppose war.
• Are virulently anti-Israel and either don't care if Iran threatens Israel or claim the Israelis are trying to drag America into a war.
• Do not believe a military strike can succeed, and that Israel, in particular, lacks the capability to seriously set back Iran's program. Also, they think Iran will become more secretive and bury their program even deeper underground.
• Fear that any attack will lead to a spike in oil prices that will damage the world economy at a time when it is already in precarious shape. A related concern is that Iran will interfere in the shipment of oil through the Straits of Hormuz by mining the Persian Gulf, harassing or attacking oil tankers or taking other steps that will adversely effect the world's oil supply.
• Worry that an attack, by Israel or the U.S., will provoke widespread anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment and provoke terrorist attacks against Jews and Americans.
• Predict that Iran will respond with missile attacks on Israel and possibly American bases in the region. Meanwhile, Israel worries that a U.S. attack will inevitably lead to an Iranian missile attack on Israel.
• Anticipate that the U.S. will be held responsible if Israel attacks and this would undermine American interests in regional stability, promoting Palestinian-Israeli peace and retaining good relations with its regional allies.
• Expect Iranian allies – Hamas and Hizballah – to launch rockets at Israel putting virtually the entire population from north to south and in between in danger.
• Will rally the Iranian people around the regime as a reaction to seeing their country under attack, especially if civilians are killed in the operation. This will reduce the probability that opponents will have the opportunity to overthrow the Islamic leaderships.
• Insist an Israeli strike will outrage the "Arab street" and protests will force Egypt and Jordan to annul their peace treaties with Israel.
• Argue that Israel can only set back the Iranian program 3-5 years and that is not worth the suffering Israelis will have to endure if Iran and its allies attack their homeland.
• Expect a unilateral Israeli action to bring international condemnation that will isolate Israel and could lead the United States and others to take punitive measures against Israel.
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