Article by Rick Moran in PJMedia
Iranian Newspaper Publishes a Map With List of Targets in Israel: 'Just One Wrong Move'
The English-language Tehran Times is seen as an authoritative voice for the Iranian regime in international affairs. That’s why the Israelis would be crazy not to take the threat that appeared in that publication — including a map of Israel with dozens of missile targets — seriously.
The front-page story was headlined “Just one wrong move,” and some of the targets shown included sites in Lebanon and the West Bank.
More empty, bombastic threats from Iran? The better question is: can Israel afford to dismiss the Iranian threat with the Islamic regime on the cusp of having the capability to build a nuclear bomb?
Though the paper didn’t specify what the markers represented, the article opened by declaring, “An intensification of the Israeli military threats against Iran seems to suggest that the Zionist regime has forgotten that Iran is more than capable of hitting them from anywhere.”
It went on to cite Hebrew media reports about a visit last week by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Mossad chief David Barnea to Washington, where they reportedly stressed concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile threat.
The paper also noted that the Israel Defense Forces earlier this month said it will conduct a major air force exercise in the spring simulating a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Clearly, some of the targets listed on the map don’t make any real sense. One targeted site appears to be in the middle of the Negev desert.
Related: U.S. and Israel Discuss Joint Military Exercises Against Iran
But what about targeting Palestinian enclaves? It wouldn’t be the first time.
During Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, a rocket fired from Gaza by Hamas landed near the Palestinian town of Azun in the West Bank. Hamas claimed at the time that the rocket was aimed at the Modi’in, located some 30 kilometers south of Azun.
During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, multiple rockets were fired toward the West Bank, with one rocket landing near Hebron and another near Bethlehem.
And there was a different tone to the threats from the Tehran Times.
“The Tehran Times doesn’t need to remind the illegitimate regime of Israel of Iran’s defense capabilities,” the article said. “Yet they need to remember something.”
The paper then recalled Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks in 2013 that “they are threatening to strike militarily, but I think they know it, and if they do not know it, they must know that if they make a mistake the Islamic Republic will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa.”
“Keep your hands off!” concluded the newspaper.
Israel has been in the business of handling Iranian threats for 40 years and has learned to take these kinds of threats in stride. The question isn’t whether Israel can attack Iran. The question is what cost Israel will pay to rid itself of the existential threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon.
That’s a good question for Washington too.
