Iran Guards commander threatens to hit Israel, US if ‘slightest error’ made

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday threatened to target both Israel and the United States if they make an “error.”

Iranian Major General Hossein Salami, who made the comment in a speech broadcast live on state TV, was responding to a report by The Times of Israel on recent remarks by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett said at a campaign event at a synagogue on Saturday that Jerusalem and Washington have agreed Israel will be in charge of countering Iranian influence in Syria, while the US will do so in Iraq.

Salami said that in light of that remark, Iran will view both countries as responsible in case of military action against it.

“If you make the slightest error, we will hit both of you,” he said, according to Reuters.

He also warned Israel not to rely on the United States, Iran’s Press TV reported.

“You should [instead] definitely look to the sea because that is going to be your eventual residing place,” he was quoted as saying.

Salami was speaking at a ceremony to mark 40 days since the death of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed alongside Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3 by a US airstrike in Baghdad.

Earlier Thursday, a spokesman for the IRGC warned the US that the killing of Soleimani will lead to the “liberation” of Jerusalem.

“The cowardly and craven assassination of commander Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis by the Americans will lead to the liberation of Jerusalem by the grace of God,” Brig. Gen. Ramazan Sharif was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.

Sharif said Soleimani’s mission was to support armed opposition to Israel.

“His martyrdom, too, was also a help to that cause,” Sharif said, according to the Mehr news agency.

Iran has repeatedly threatened Israel over Soleimani’s killing in recent weeks.

Over the weekend, former IRGC head Mohsen Rezaei told Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen TV station that Iran is just looking for an excuse to attack Israel and “raze Tel Aviv to the ground.”

“If they [the US] do something, we can use it as a pretext to attack Israel, because Israel played a role in the martyrdom of General Soleimani,” he said, blaming Israel for tipping off the Americans to Soleimani’s location.

Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, is considered a top politician and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In January, he threatened that Iran would destroy Haifa and “Israeli military centers” in revenge for Soleimani’s killing.

Following an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Iraq and repeated Iranian threats, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran against attacking Israel.

“We’re standing steadfast against those who seek our lives. We’re standing with determination and with force. Whoever tries to attack us will receive a crushing blow in return,” he declared last month at a conference in Jerusalem.