Iranian cleric threatens Tel Aviv

During his televized sermon, broadcast last Friday, Sayyid Yahyah Ja'fari directly responded to comments attributed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by Germany's Focus magazine.

In April, the German publication had initially reported that Olmert said Iran's nuclear program could be set back 10 years by firing a thousand cruise missiles a day for 10 days. The Prime Minister's Office denied the report, and Focus subsequently reedited its story, removing the quotes.

In a speech broadcast on Iran's Kerman TV, and translated by MEMRI, Ja'fari declared during his sermon, "Several days ago, the stupid Israeli prime minister said: 'We can attack the Iranian nuclear industry with 10,000 cruise missiles, and delay it for another 10 years.' Our response is that if he is planning to fire 10,000 missiles, we will fire tens of thousands of missiles on Tel Aviv and Israel."

The crowd responded with chants of "Allah Akbar" (God is greatest).

The cleric added that Israel would be also targeted by Iran if the US attacked.

"If it (the US) acts stupidly and invades an Islamic country – especially a country like Iran – it should bear in mind that Israel will come under a very severe attack," Ja'fari said.

"According to our officials and political analysts, this (a US strike on Iran) will not happen – I only said it for the sake of argument – because some of the American officials have a little sense, and they realize that their interests throughout the world would be in danger, and that the plundering Israel would also be attacked severely by us," he added.

Ja'fari also lashed out at the international community, saying it "remains silent. It has never done anything... if some Zionist goes to hell, then all the Western, American, and European media, as well as the Security Council, the UN and everyone else, go into action. However, if 100 Palestinians unjustly die a martyr's death on a single day – they don't care about it."

'Bush should be sentenced to 100 deaths'

Turning to US President George Bush, Ja'fari said: "As you can see, the killing in Iraq is outrageous. That international criminal, George Bush... If there is any justice in the world, undoubtedly, this man and his ilk, without a doubt, should be sentenced to 100 deaths. There is no doubt about it."

"The power of the world of Islam is great. The governments are dependent (upon America), and so they prevent the Muslim peoples from doing anything, and even if they were to do anything, it would be ineffective," he added.

Ja'fari vowed that should the US invade Iran, the Iranian military would emerge victorious.

"The American threats are psychological warfare. You must know this. The Supreme Leader (Khamenei) recently said so. But let's assume that it isn't psychological warfare; with God's grace, our people, our strong army, our powerful Revolutionary Guards, our brave Basij volunteers – in sum, all our armed forces, of which we are proud – are in full readiness, and they will rub the invaders' noses in the mud."

Iran's Kerman TV station has been used before by clerics to spread the worldview of the Islamic Revolution. During the Second Lebanon War last July, Cleric Ahmad Khatmi used a Friday sermon to call on Islamic states to arm Hizbullah.

"If the Islamic countries want Islam, they should help Hizbullah. Not with slogans... Things have gone beyond condemnation and so on. They should supply Hizbullah with weapons. They should help Hizbullah logistically, so it can operate," Khatmi said.