Tel Aviv, Haifa residents unafraid as Iran threatens to turn cities to ‘dust’
Even with tensions in the Middle East soaring over the American assassination of Iran’s top terrorist Qassem Soleimani and Iranian threats to “turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust,” Israelis are unafraid of warnings coming from the Islamic nation.
“If America takes any measure after our military response, we will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust,” Mohsen Rezai of Iran’s Expediency Council said.
Iran threatened to attack Israel if the United States responded to attacks on American facilities on Tuesday, the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported.
“We in no way consider the Zionist regime (of Israel) to be separate from the criminal US regime in these crimes,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned in a statement. “We warn the Great Satan, the bloodthirsty and arrogant regime of the US, that any new wicked act or further aggression (against Iran) will bring about more painful and crushing responses.”
The U.S. assassinated Soleimani on Friday. Since then Israel has been preparing for “a variety of scenarios” including an “escalation of events up to a confrontation with the US, in which Israel could also be involved.”
Clearly, Iran know of Israel’s firepower—and the fact that if push comes to shove, we have nuclear missiles. We have no plans to ever use them except in the what we call the “Samson” scenario—where our very existence was threatened.
Israeli leaders have not commented on the U.S. attack. But in Tel Aviv and Haifa, residents remain optimistic despite the threats from the East.
“I am not afraid of the Iranian threat. Israel is much stronger. Iran will be the main loser,” one Tel Avivian said. “Although they’ve hated us for years, they have huge troubles. We have our defense abilities,” another city resident said. “I am scared! It would be a huge mistake for them to attack us,” said me, right now!
Meanwhile the U.S. Embassy in Israel issued a warning to Americans living here to be on alert.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy strongly encourages U.S. citizens to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness, as security incidents, including rocket fire, often take place without warning,” the embassy warning said.
