Iran will strike back if US, Israel hit nuclear sites, says supreme leader

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that "any kind of threat and attack, or even thinking about any [military] action will be firmly responded to," state television reported Thursday.

Reuters quoted Khamenei as saying:

"The Revolutionary Guards and army and our nation […] will answer attacks with strong slaps and iron fists."

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Iran has the capability to target Israel's nuclear research center near Dimona, an Iranian military commander, Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, told Al Alam News.

"Iran can manage any military move," the official Fars new agency cites Jazayeri as saying:

"The US or any other regime may initiate a a war, but definitely they will not be the side who ends it."

Meanwhile Iranian MP Seyed Hossein Naqavi warned that Iran would take the fight "all throughout the European and US soil," if it comes under attack.

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The threats come in response to criticism of Iran's nuclear program, which the International Atomic Energy Agency said appeared to be aimed at developing nuclear weapons, in a report published Tuesday.

Tehran has denounced the report as biased and politically motivated, and pledged not to retreat "one iota" from its nuclear plans.

Reports last week claimed the US and Israel were planning to "fast-track" plans for targeted missile strikes against key Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel recently tested a missile thought capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to Iran, fuelling speculation that it was considering military action.

Russia has warned the West against an attack on Iran, saying it would create a new threat to global security.

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