IRGC Deputy Commander: We Sent a Message to Israel with Dozens of Missiles

On Friday, June 8, the Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that the Islamic Republic sent a message to Israel with dozens of missiles during an attack on the Golan Heights, warning that if Israel responds, it will attack Tel Aviv. Concurrently, a resolution from the 'Quds Day' rally published in Tehran reiterated the call for the 'elimination of Israel.' According to Tasnim News Agency, Hossein Salami, the Deputy Commander of the IRGC, acknowledged in a speech at the Quds Day rally in Mashhad that the Islamic Republic responded to Israeli attacks on Iranian bases in Syria with an attack on the Golan Heights. He added, 'Dozens of missiles flew, and the message was sent that if you respond, we will turn Tel Aviv into dust, and they were silenced, and since that day, they have not done anything.' Salami's remarks about the halt of Israeli attacks on Iranian bases following the Golan Heights attack come as Israel announced on May 8 that it targeted 'almost all Iranian positions in Syrian territory' in retaliation for these attacks. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 27 people were killed during those attacks, including at least 11 Iranians. On the other hand, reports have emerged about an agreement between Russia and Israel for the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria, but Iranian officials have stated that any such agreement will occur 'exclusively' between the governments of Iran and Syria. On Friday, participants in the government-organized Quds Day rally declared the 'freedom of Quds' and 'elimination of Israel' as the ideals of the Islamic Republic and the strategy of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei. The resolution, traditionally prepared by the Islamic Propaganda Organization and read at the end of the rally, also strongly protested the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem. The Islamic Republic's emphasis on the 'elimination' of Israel has repeatedly drawn international condemnation. Most recently, the German Chancellor condemned the 'tweet of the Iranian leader' describing Israel as a 'cancerous tumor,' calling for its removal and increased pressure on Iran to reduce its military influence in the Middle East. Ayatollah Khamenei had reiterated in his tweet that 'Israel is a cancerous tumor in West Asia that must be eradicated,' and according to him, 'confronting this cancerous tumor is possible and will eventually be realized.' During the Quds Day rally, when Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, was present, a group of participants called him a 'traitor' and 'sellout' and chanted 'death to the hypocrite.' Last year, several participants at the Quds Day rally shouted 'death to the hypocrite' and 'Rouhani, congratulations on your connection with Banisadr' when President Hassan Rouhani was present. Following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, several close associates of the Supreme Leader have severely criticized Rouhani's government. For instance, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, said, 'Are we negotiating with the enemy to solve our imaginary problems and disarm ourselves of defensive and security capabilities just to get a piece of bread?' He added, 'Whose thought and calculation is this, other than the calculation of a British salary recipient and an American mercenary? If this poisoned logic emerges from anyone... this is an American spy.'