Tehran Imam threatens missile attack on Dimona nuclear power plant
Imam Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani also warned the US against a military attack on Iran.
By TZVI JOFFREImam Ayatollah Ali Movahedi-Kermani(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/MAHMOUD HOSSEINI)
"If Iran decides to confront you, a missile strike on the Dimona reactor would be enough," said Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani in a sermon addressing the United States and Israel, according to a report by Radio Farda.Movahedi-Kermani threatened that such an attack on the nuclear reactor in Israel's Negev desert would "plow Israel 200 times.""You are living in a glass house. You’d better watch out," said the Tehran-based Imam.He also warned the US against a military attack on Iran, saying: "Think of an attack only if you want to change the color of the Persian Gulf waters from azure to red."The Imam also repeated Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's warning about the nuclear deal."From July 7, we will enrich uranium at any grade and form, and in any amount we may deem necessary," said Movahedi-Kermani.The Imam was one of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's representatives to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Radio Farda.He denied that Iran was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb."Iran will continue enrichment to generate electricity and conduct scientific research," he said. "This enrichment is not for making a nuclear bomb, which Iran deems illegitimate and unnecessary."On Saturday night, an Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will announce on Sunday that it will raise its uranium enrichment level to 5%, a concentration above the limit set by its 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that Iranian senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi will announce more cuts in its commitments to the pact on Sunday. Tehran warned last week that such a move could take place.Under the deal, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67% fissile material, well below the 20% it was reaching for before the deal and the roughly 90% suitable for a nuclear weapon.Movahedi-Karmeni also told US President Donald Trump to "compare the authority of the United States with Iran's.""Iran's authority is marked by intelligence, creativity and humanity, while the United States' authority is an embodiment of brutality, savagery and meanness!" he.The Tehran Imam also addressed Trump's decision to call off a planned strike on Iran after the Islamic Republic downed a US drone, saying, "You saw the corpses of US troops before your eyes, and told yourself they have hit the drone that was flying 65,000 feet above the sea. What will they do to a ship that is just in front of them?"Last year, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei changed his mind about appointing Karmeni as an interim chairman for the Islamic republic's Expediency Discernment Council after a few weeks, according to Radio Farda. The Expediency Council decides arguments between the Iranian parliament and the Iranian Guardian Council, which is usually the final decision maker in most cases, according to Khamenei's web page.Reuters contributed to this report.
