Guards’ commander says Iran’s strategy is to wipe Israel off political map

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander on Monday threatened Israel with destruction if it attacks Iran, state media reported.

The comments by Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, followed an Israeli attack on Iranian targets in Syria last week - the latest in a series of assaults targeting Tehran’s presence there in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“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,” Salami said, quoted by state television.

Iranian officials have previously said Tehran, which does not recognize Israel, would respond swiftly to any Israeli attack.

Israel backed US President Donald Trump’s move to back out of the 2015 international deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and welcomed Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on the country.

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes as a threat to its existence. Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.