Iran's president Tuesday reiterated threats against Israel while marking the country's annual Army Day, though he stayed away from criticizing Saudi Arabia as Tehran seeks a détente with the kingdom.

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The comments by Ebrahim Raisi came as fighter jets and helicopters flew overhead in Tehran, and as Iranian submarines sailed across its waters during a ceremony carried live by state television.

The day celebrates Iran's regular military, not its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, whose expeditionary forces operate across the wider Mideast and aid Iranian-allied militia groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Guard also routinely has tense encounters with the US Navy.

Speaking at the ceremony, Raisi threatened Israel, which is suspected of carrying out a series of attacks targeting Iran since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.

"Enemies, particularly the Zionist regime, have received the message that any tiny action against [our] country will prompt a harsh answer from the armed forces, which will accompany the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv," Raisi said.

Raisi also reiterated a demand for the US to leave the Mideast. American policy since the Carter administration has viewed protected the Persian Gulf region as crucial to securing global energy supplies. A fifth of the world's supply of oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

While not specifically naming Saudi Arabia, Raisi did offer an olive branch in his remarks.

"The hand of our armed forces warmly shakes the hand of the regional nations that intend to create security in the region," the president said.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions, a diplomatic agreement reached in China. In the time since, Saudi Arabia also has been involved in a prisoner swap with Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, with hopes such a deal could see an end to that country's yearslong proxy war.

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Defense Minister Yoav Gallant canceled a press conference Thursday after reportedly planning to publicly call on the government to halt the highly-disputed judicial reform, in a move that would have heralded a split in the right-wing Coalition. However, just hours later, some of the people in his orbit said he could still go ahead with his public statement in light of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Thursday in which he vowed to continue with the overhaul.

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Gallant canceled his planned statement after being summoned by  Netanyahu.

The defense minister expressed concern over some soldiers' and reservists' refusal to serve in wake of the legislation as well as external threats against Israel he said were getting stronger as Israel was perceived as divided and weak.

In a press conference of his own later, Netanyahu said, "I met with Gallant, I heard his fears regarding national security. Yet I must also say reiterate, there is no place for refusing military service because it risks the personal safety of all of us. There is no justification for refusing the serve."

Netanyahu is said to have asked Gallant for more time. The foreign minister, in turn, replied that he trusted Netanyahu and would try to calm the winds.

Nevertheless, Gallant's associates said that if nothing changed, he might go through with his planned statement.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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A judge near Youngstown set bond at $250,000 for James Reardon, ordered a mental health evaluation and told him to stay away from Jewish houses of worship and organizations if he is released from jail.

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Police arrested Reardon Saturday on charges of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing, a day after a Jewish organization contacted authorities.

Ammunition, semiautomatic weapons, a gas mask, and anti-Semitic information were found at a house in New Middleton where he lives with his mother, police said.

New Middletown police said the video posted on Reardon's Instagram account last month included the sounds of sirens and screaming with the caption: "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O'Rearedon."

The post tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown.

The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation said it found out about the threat on Friday and alerted the police and FBI. The organization said it later learned that "ira_seamus" was an online pseudonym for James Reardon.

"I want to stress that we know of no other threat to the Jewish community or to any of our agencies at this point in time," said Andy Lipkin, the federation's executive vice president. "Nonetheless, I have directed that we maintain the additional level of security for the near future."

Reardon was arraigned by video in Struthers Municipal Court.

A message seeking comment was left with his attorney. There was no answer at a phone number for his mother, and a man who answered a number listed for his father hung up.

Media outlets in Youngstown reported that Reardon attended the 2017 white nationalist rally that turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia.

New Middletown Police Chief Vince D'egidio told WFMJ-TV that Reardon has posted several videos in which he used derogatory remarks toward the Jewish and African American communities.

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Jonathan Xie was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, making false statements and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The material support carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

At his initial court appearance on Wednesday afternoon, he was ordered to be held without bail. His public defender didn't say whether he would file a motion for a bail hearing.

His parents attended the proceeding but declined to comment afterward.

Xie sent $100 to a person he believed was affiliated with a faction of Hamas last December, and a few days later, posted on his Instagram account that he was "pretty sure it was illegal but I don't give a damn," according to a criminal complaint.

The U.S. has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

"Homegrown violent extremists like Xie are a serious threat to national security," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement. "The actions that he took and planned to take made that threat both clear and present."

Xie also allegedly lied on security forms he filled out when he sought to join the U.S. Army by not mentioning the donation.

The U.S. attorney's office also alleged Xie posted on Instagram that he wanted to bomb the Israeli embassy and Trump Tower in New York.

According to the criminal complaint, a person wearing a black ski mask later identified as Xie said in an Instagram video that he was against "Zionism" and the "neo-liberal establishment," in response to a question, said he would join Hamas "if I could find a way."

Later in the video, Xie allegedly displayed a handgun and said he was going to go to a pro-Israel march and "I'm going to shoot everybody."

"I want to shoot the pro-Israel demonstrators ... you can get a gun and shoot your way through or use a vehicle and ram people ... all you need is a gun or vehicle to go on a rampage ... I do not care if security forces come after me, they will have to put a bullet in my head to stop me," Xie said in the video, according to the court papers.

According to the account of a person who interacted online with Xie and later contacted the FBI, Xie said the attack would be at an Al-Quds Day parade, an annual pro-Palestinian event held around the final Friday of Ramadan.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce Malliet said in court on Wednesday that authorities believe one of the events is to be held in New York's Times Square on May 31.

After an April trip to Trump Tower in which he was observed by FBI surveillance, according to the complaint, Xie posted photos of the building along with his intent to bomb it.

"Okay so I went to NYC today and passed by Trump Tower, then I started thinking about bombing it and I was imagining that the explosion would kill Trump and then I started laughing hysterically," he wrote according to the complaint. "I forgot to visit the Israeli embassy in NYC ... I want to bomb this place along with trump tower [sic]," Xie said in a separate post detailed in the court documents.

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"I hope they're tamping down [the rhetoric]. They tried to give that impression," Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after the classified briefing for the full House of Representatives.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan held the briefing after lawmakers, including Trump's fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, clamored for weeks for more information about escalating tensions with Iran.

The administration officials held a similar briefing, also behind closed doors, for the full Senate later on Tuesday.

At the closed-door sessions, they spelled out to lawmakers what they described as the imminent threat from Iran, or its proxies, to U.S. personnel in the Middle East. Several Democrats said they were skeptical about the extent of the threat, but Trump's fellow Republicans generally agreed there was a heightened risk to Americans.

"There is no intention to go to war in the region. This is a deterrent operation to stop Iran's escalation and aggression," Rep. Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs panel, told reporters.

After speaking to lawmakers, Shanahan said the administration does not want the situation to escalate and that its actions to date had deterred attacks by Iran on U.S. forces.

"This is about deterrence, not about war. We're not about going to war," Shanahan told reporters.

Pompeo, an Iran hawk, made only a general comment that the administration officials had discussed their "strategic campaign" in the briefings.

Escalating rhetoric

Tehran and Washington have been escalating rhetoric against each other this month, following Trump's decision to try to cut Iran's oil exports to zero and beef up the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf in response to what he said were Iranian threats.

Trump said the tightened sanctions were intended to push Iran to make concessions beyond the terms of the 2015 international deal aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program. Trump withdrew the United States from the pact a year ago.

Last week, Washington pulled some diplomatic staff from its embassy in Baghdad following attacks on four oil tankers in the Gulf.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday rejected talks with the United States after Trump said Iran would call and ask for negotiations "if and when they are ever ready."

After the Senate meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said they had told lawmakers the recent attacks on oil tankers and a pipeline in the Middle East were directed by the Iranian government and that U.S. officials had detected worrisome communication between Tehran and a Shiite militia that prompted the military to quickly relocate an aircraft carrier.

"They explained to us how the Iranian threat streams were different than in the past, that the attack on the ships and the pipeline was coordinated and directed by the Iranian government, the ayatollah," Graham told reporters.

Some House Democrats accused the administration officials of twisting intelligence to make the case for what they see as an aggressive response to any Iranian actions.

"In my opinion, there was not any information there that pointed to any reason why we should be engaging in talk of war with Iran," said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Democrats also faulted Trump's administration for, as they put it, lacking a long-term plan to deal with Iran now that Washington has withdrawn from the nuclear agreement.

"They're just hoping that in the end the Iranians decide to come to the table, without any clear plan on how that is going to happen," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), a Foreign Relations Committee member, told reporters.

Iraq steps in

Meanwhile, Iraq announced it will send delegations to Washington and Tehran to help "halt tension" amid fears of a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said there were no Iraqi groups that wanted to push toward a war, two days after a rocket fired in Baghdad landed close to the U.S. Embassy, the latest in a series of regional attacks the United States believes may have been inspired by Iran.

No one has claimed responsibility for the rocket fired on Sunday into the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions. U.S. government sources said Washington strongly suspects Shi'ite militias with ties to Tehran were behind the rocket attack.

Iran has rejected allegations of involvement in attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday Iran would be met with "great force" if it attacked U.S. interests in the Middle East.

U.N. Iraq envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Iraq could "be a stabilizing factor in a turbulent region and instead of an arena for conflict" the country could offer a space for regional reconciliation, paving a path for a regional security dialogue.

"At the same time, we cannot ignore that Iraq faces serious challenges in preventing its territory from becoming the theatre for different competitions. So, to all those feeling challenged: placing a further burden on Iraq is truly the last thing it needs," she warned.

Without naming countries, Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told the Security Council that the escalation of tensions in the Gulf had to stop and "confrontation should be replaced by dialogue."

"Attempts to draw the country [Iraq] into an artificially stoked confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran are absolutely counterproductive and will only have a negative impact on the situation within Iraq and the region as a whole," he said.

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"If Israel bombards our airport, we will bombard its airport; if it strikes our oil facilities, we will strike its oil facilities," Saab reportedly said while touring his country's southern region that borders Israel.

Saab also ruled out the possibility of Israeli starting a war with Lebanon, claiming that the Lebanese military has the deterrence power to prevent it.

In February, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard expressed concerns over Hezbollah's growing role in the country's new cabinet, adding that the Iran-backed organization continues to make its own "national security decisions" that "endanger the rest of the country."

The U.S. views Hezbollah as a terrorist group, but is a strong supporter of Lebanon's national army, supplying it with arms worth hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. In mid-February, the American Embassy in Lebanon said the U.S. had delivered laser-guided rockets valued at more than $16 million to the Lebanese army.

Richard said last year alone, the United States provided more than $825 million in assistance, an increase from the year before.

On Monday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that if Israel wants to wage a war against his terrorist organization, which is based in southern Lebanon, it will need to launch a ground invasion that it currently isn't prepared for.

"I am leaning toward the conclusion that Israel is unlikely to carry out a war on Lebanon. I personally think that it is unlikely they will do so because… its home front is not prepared," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

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"Several days ago, during the night, a drone believed to have crossed into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, crashed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement. "Upon examination, it was found to be carrying explosives."

The Israeli army believes the drone was designed to detonate upon crashing and cause mass casualties, but the mechanism apparently malfunctioned.

The fact that a drone loaded with explosives managed to cross into Israeli territory, however, proves Gaza's terrorist organizations have made significant technological progress.

Earlier Sunday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis responded to recent threats issued by the Islamic Jihad, warning that the terrorist organization was "playing with fire" and "putting itself in danger."

"We've been hearing the threats coming from Iran-backed terrorist organizations in Gaza," he said. "The IDF views any terrorist activity directed at Israeli citizens with grave severity. We hold the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for anything that happens in Gaza."

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