Iranian armed forces will target "the heart" of Israel if it makes the "slightest move" against it, warned President Ibrahim Raisi in a televised address on Monday.
"If you make the slightest move against our nation ... our armed forces' destination will be the heart of the Zionist regime," said Raisi.
The Iranian President made the blunt statement as negotiations on the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear deal, ground to a halt in recent weeks.
In May 2018 the United States withdrew from JCPOA, which had provided sanctions relief to Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. It ensured that Iran would not be able to produce nuclear weapons – something it has always denied seeking to achieve. Then-POTUS Donald Trump pledged he would negotiate a better deal. However, President Joe Biden, upon taking office, sought to return to the nuclear deal.
Thus, Iran has been in direct and indirect talks with France, Germany, the EU, Russia, and China in the Austrian capital, Vienna, for a year. The goal of negotiations would see Washington return to the nuclear accord, including through the lifting of sanctions against Iran, while Tehran would fully comply with its obligations.
Talks have stalled since late March, with Tehran's demand that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite branch of Iran's military, be removed from a US terror list, reportedly one of the major sticking points.
Tehran has also called on Washington to unfreeze Iranian assets trapped in foreign banks as a gesture of goodwill.
On 8 April the US State Department announced that the Biden administration had decided not to remove the Iranian elite military branch from the list of terror organisations.
Throughout the difficult negotiations to revive the JCPOA, Israel has vehemently opposed the deal, with Israeli officials pledging to unilaterally do what is necessary to protect their country.
“The emerging deal, as it seems, is highly likely to create a more violent, more volatile Middle East,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in late February, addressing his Cabinet.
‘Zionist Aggression’
The current statement by Iranian President Ibrahim also comes in the wake of a fresh spate of violence in Jerusalem.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israelis erupted near and at the Al-Aqsa mosque on 15 April and over the weekend, when the Jewish Passover holiday started amid the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
An estimated 170 people were wounded as a result of these incidents since Friday, according to AFP.
Israeli police reportedly said that their forces entered the mosque compound to "remove" Palestinian demonstrators, "hundreds" of whom were supposedly spotted inside the compound early on Sunday morning gathering stones ahead of the arrival of Jewish visitors.
Israeli security forces take position during clashes with Palestinians demonstrators at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, April 15, 2022.
© AP Photo / Mahmoud Illean
Iran accused Israel of "zionist" aggression, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) calling the clashes a "desecration of the holy values of Muslims" alleged "carried out by the Zionist regime's military and security forces by deploying military equipment and brutally attacking defenceless Palestinian worshippers," according to a translated statement by the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.
The IRGC vowed a "new wave" of support for Palestinians rising up against Israel’s "aggressive actions and new crimes."