Israeli minister warns of 30-day war with Iran
August 16, 2012 – ISRAEL - A strike on Iran’s nuclear sites would spark a 30-day war with missile attacks on Israel’s cities and as many as 500 dead, according to the Israeli minister responsible for preparing home defenses. Matan Vilnai, who is stepping down as home front defense minister to become ambassador to China, said the country was “ready as never before.” “The assessments are for a war that will last 30 days on a number of fronts,” he told the Maariv newspaper. “It could be that there will be less fatalities, but it could be there will be more, that is the scenario that we are preparing for according to the best experts.” Speculation is growing that Israel is planning a unilateral attack on Iran’s nuclear program – or that it is using the question to increase pressure on Barack Obama to launch an American strike. Israel is convinced that archenemy Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, dismissing Tehran’s claims that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. Israel considers nuclear-armed Iran to be a mortal danger. Iran backs anti-Israel militants with funds and weapons, and its leaders often call for Israel’s destruction. In his latest pronouncement, Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei said Israel will disappear from “the scene of geography.” Addressing war veterans in Tehran on Wednesday, he said Iran considers it its “religious duty to save this Islamic country (Palestine) from the clutches of the Zionist occupiers.” Israel’s leaders have indicated an attack is a possibility if they conclude the international community has failed to halt the Iranian nuclear program. Mr. Vilnai did not elaborate on how he reached his assessments, but his office relies on intelligence and other assessments about Iranian weapons capabilities and Israeli susceptibility. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has also said the Israeli death toll could be in the range of 500 in such a conflict. “Just as the citizens of Japan have to realize that they can have earthquakes, so the citizens of Israel have to realize that if they live here, they have to be prepared to expect missiles on the home front,” Vilnai said. “It’s not pleasant for the home front, but decisions have to be made, and we have to be ready” –Telegraph
If that's not enough war talk for you, Iran gives us this:
Khamenei: Zionist regime will disappear from map
August 16, 2012 – ISRAEL - With the U.S. sending clear public signals to Israel that it is opposed to military action now against Iran, and a cacophonous debate on the matter in Israel, senior Iranian officials continue to threaten Israel with destruction. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that he was confidant “the fake Zionist (regime) will disappear from the landscape of geography,” Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported. Khamenei made the comments during a meeting with veterans of the Iran-Iraq War. “The light of hope will shine on the Palestinian issue, and this Islamic land will certainly be returned to the Palestinian nation,” Khamenei was quoted as saying. Earlier on Wednesday Brig.- Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran’s Passive (civil) Defense Organization and a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, during a speech ahead of Al-Quds Day, an anti-Israel event initiated by Iran, said that in order to liberate Palestine there was no other option but to destroy Israel. [Al-“Quds Day] is a reflection of the fact that no other way exists apart from resolve and strength to completely eliminate the aggressive nature and to destroy Israel,” Jalali said, according to a report by Iran’s ISNA news agency. The report was also picked up by other news outlets including Mashregh News, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards. Al-Quds Day is an annual Iranian anti-Zionist event established in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini and which falls this year on August 17. Iran also seeks to export the event to other Muslim countries. Jalali said that the message of Khomeini’s Al-Quds Day initiative was that the Muslim world must support the “oppressed people of Palestine” in a show of resistance against “the Zionist usurpers.” Jerusalem Post
