Iran FM Dismisses Israeli Threats to Attack

Threats 'Propaganda' Not Genuine, Salehi Insists

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has rejected the repeated Israeli threats to attack his nation in recent weeks, calling them “propaganda” and not a sign that a genuine attack is coming soon.

“It is our responsibility to take these threats seriously, but Israel is not in a position to do such a thing,” Salehi added in an interview published in an Iranian newspaper. Israeli officials, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been talking up an attack recently, with some reports saying it would come in the weeks leading up to the November US election.

Threats to attack Iran are not new, and both the US and Israel have been making such threats in some form or other off and on since the early 1980’s. The recent uptick has taken on a new spirit of earnestness in Israel, however, raising questions of if this time they actually mean it.

Threatening an attack for 30-odd years beforehand isn’t the greatest strategy, however, is it has given Iran a huge amount of lead-time in building defense systems and designing their military entirely around defending against such a strike.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.