TEHRAN: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday that if Israel carries out another attack on Iranian territory, the situation “will be completely different” and there “will be nothing left of the Zionist regime.”
Addressing students and teachers at the Government College University in the Pakistani city of Lahore, Raisi said Iran “punished” Israel for its attack on the Iranian Consulate in Syria, referring to the April 14 drone and missile attack on Israel.
At least seven Iranian military advisers, including two high-ranking commanders, were killed in the consulate attack, which Tehran blamed on Tel Aviv. Israel did not officially claim responsibility for the consulate attack.
Early on Friday, Israel carried out a drone strike on a military base in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, which the Iranian authorities claimed to have thwarted.
Raisi said if Israel again resorts to military action against Iran, “the situation will be completely different and it’s not known whether anything will be left of the regime,” referring to Israel.
He further said Iran and Pakistan have a “common view” on “defending the oppressed people of Palestine,” adding that Tehran will continue to defend them “with a sense of pride.”
The Iranian president also hit out at the United States in his speech, saying the slogan of free speech in the country is hypocritical as they expel students from universities for speaking in favor of Palestine.
The remarks were in reference to the expulsion of more than 100 students from Columbia University.
Raisi added that the “resistance” of the people of Palestine would liberate the occupied lands.
During his maiden visit to Pakistan, Raisi held wide-ranging talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday, with discussions also touching on the situation in Gaza, where nearly 34,200 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli offensive since last October following a Hamas attack.
He also met with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, as well as Pakistani Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
