Israel and Saudi Arabia are afraid of being destroyed in a military confrontation with Iran, said a senior representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday, adding that “resistance” is the only successful approach for Iran against its enemies.
“[Iran’s] deterrence [power] has today reached a point where Israel and Saudi Arabia are worried that something may happen, leaving no trace of them,” the semi-official Entekhab news website quoted cleric Abdollah Haji Sadeghi, Khamenei’s representative in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as saying.
Iran has accomplished far more in the past six months since taking the approach of “resistance” than it has done negotiating in the past six years, he said.
Iran is accused of pursuing aggressive policies in the region, including attacking Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, threatening shipping in the Arabian Gulf, and continuing to support proxy organizations in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Tensions in the region have been heighted after the September 14 attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities, which Iran is widely accused of carrying out.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said that the response to Iran must be well-calculated, adding that “The political and peaceful solution is much better than the military one.”
The US said it will be deploying a Patriot battery, four Sentinel RADARs, and nearly 200 support personnel to Saudi Arabia in response to the recent attacks.
Sadeghi had previously claimed that Iranian-backed Hezbollah can inflict irreparable damage on Israel. Hezbollah and Israel clashed over the Lebanese border in late August. The terrorist organization recently reaffirmed its loyalty to Iran, with its leader Hassan Nasrallah saying that Khamenei was key to its foundation.
Iran continues to threaten to destroy Israel. IRGC commander Hossein Salami said last week that Iran is capable of attacking its enemies anywhere, and added that Israel’s destruction is now an “achievable goal.”