The head of Iran's National Security Council and a close associate of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that Iran will retaliate with missiles should Israel decide to act "foolishly."
Ali Shamkhani said Israel must be ashamed of "having tunnels hundred meters long dug under them and then missiles of resistance are ready to launch at their lands from Gaza and Lebanon. If they act foolishly, these missiles can retaliate with the fire of hell." according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Touching on former Israeli Minister Gonen Segev, who was recently handed an 11-year prison sentence for spying for Iran, Shamkhani said, "There is no greater shame for the Zionist regime than their ministers turning into informants."
Shamkhani also said Iran would keep working to improve the accuracy of its ballistic missiles.
"Iran has no scientific or operational restriction for increasing the range of its military missiles, but based on its defensive doctrine, it is continuously working on increasing the precision of the missiles and has no intention to increase their range," Ali Shamkhani, a close aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB.
A U.N. Security Council resolution that accompanied the 2015 nuclear deal called upon Tehran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
But Iran said that call did not amount to a binding order and has denied that its missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Washington has also told Tehran to stop developing its satellite-launching technology, saying it was concerned that the same techniques could also be used to launch warheads.
Shamkhani said Iran would keep working on the technology "to improve the quality of people's lives and increase the country's technological prowess."
Meanwhile, Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami dismissed calls to curb its ballistic weapons, saying, "The enemies say Iran's missile power should be eliminated, but we have repeatedly said our missile capabilities are not negotiable."
The remarks come one day after Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threatened Israel with destruction if it attacks Iran.
"We announce that if Israel takes any action to wage a war against us, it will definitely lead to its own elimination and the freeing of occupied [Palestinian] territories," he said.
The threats come as London-based pan-Arab media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Hezbollah and Iran are trying to reposition their forces in southern Syria in an effort to bolster their presence adjacent to the Golan Heights and avoid high-quality Israeli strikes by sticking close to areas with large Druze populations, in the belief that Israel will be wary of attacking Druze communities.
The movement of Syrian forces from Swida in the direction of Daraa and Quneitra is being carried out in violation of the international and Russian-Israeli consensus on the removal of Iranian and Hezbollah forces from the territory, which lies some 80 to 100 kilometers (50 to 60 miles) north of the Israeli Golan Heights.
According to the report, sources in Swida, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their safety, said there was "information about Hezbollah forces being situated at a number of military posts in the area."
One source was quoted as saying, "The Iranians and Hezbollah tried in the past to create a presence in Swida but did not succeed, despite all of the incentives they offered. In recent years, they took a few figures from the district through money and power, they opened offices for the recruitment of young people – but without much success. Those that did join did so for a short time" and mainly because they needed the money, they said.
According to one source, from 2014 to 2015, "Shiite vehicles suddenly appeared in the district with propaganda songs blaring from the loudspeakers. Yet they were warned by civilian figures that if they continue like this, the propaganda vehicles will be targeted for attack. "The source said that "after they were threatened, these foreign forces disappeared."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet, Tuesday, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin and Russia's envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev to discuss the Iranian presence in Syria and in particular, the firing of Iranian ballistic missiles at Mount Hermon last week.
