Iran Threatens to Engulf Israel in Flames: ‘Just Try and You Will See’

A Palestinian protester burns an Israeli flag after the funeral of Palestinian Milad Said
AP/Sebastian Scheiner
Joshua Klein

The Islamic regime of Iran recently posted an image warning of its capability of attacking all of Israel, cautioning, “Just try and you will see,” as it continues to taunt the Jewish state and threaten its existence.

In a Sunday tweet, the Iranian government-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran’s Twitter account tweeted an image while threatening the Jewish state.

In what appeared to be the shape of the state of Israel compiled of nails and matches alongside a matchbook which contained the text “Ballistic Matchstick” as well as an Iranian flag, the post implicitly threatened to engulf the country in flames with the caption, “Just try and you will see,” written in both English and Hebrew.

In response to the threatening post, many called attention to the violent and divisive rhetoric, which is often barred on social media platforms.

“For those who need an explanation: #Iran regime is openly threatening the destruction of #Israel on Twitter,” wrote foreign policy expert Lisa Daftari.

“Ask the Iranian people & they’ll be 1st to tell u their regime has used every platform, tool, weapon & dollar to promote terror, threats & the murder of innocent people,” she added.

“This account is threatening the annihilation of millions of Jews,” wrote Bryan E. Leib, the executive director of Iranian Americans for Liberty, a bipartisan community of Iranian Americans working to aid those living under the oppressive Iranian regime. 

“No big deal right @Twitter?” he added.

“The IR [Iranian Regime] is out of control and Biden is to blame,” he added in another tweet.

“Iran regime is many things. Subtle it is not!” wrote international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky.

“Iranian regime upping it’s threats and psychological warfare against Jewish state during its nuke negotiations with US western nations. Where is the outrage?” asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that researches the Holocaust and contemporary antisemitism.

“More vile calls for the 2nd genocide of the Jewish people from criminal Ayatollah regime and still no action from the clowns @Twitter,” wrote Iranian commentator Karmel Melamed.

“[W]hat will it take for you fools to ban the Ayatollahs and their thugs from this platform for inciting genocide? SMH,” he added.

“This is an official Islamic Republic of Iran account threatening Israel & pinpointing target sites across the Jewish state,” wrote Ellie Cohanim, former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism during the Trump administration.

“It’s time the #Biden Administration @POTUS, @SecBlinken confront these genocidal antisemites for what they are,” she added.

Last week, the Iranian state-affiliated Tehran Times published a piece threatening Israelis by publishing a map of the Jewish state riddled with seeming targets throughout the territory as well as a headline reading, “Just One Wrong Move.”

“An intensification of the Israeli military threats against Iran seems to suggest that the Zionist regime has forgotten that Iran is more than capable of hitting them from anywhere,” the article read.

On Sunday, Iran threatened to deliver a “crushing” retaliation against any potential Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, Major general Gholam Ali Rashid said according to an Iranian news agency linked to the country’s top security body.

“If Israel carries out attacks against Iran, our armed forces will immediately attack all centers, bases, routes, and spaces used to carry out the aggression,” he stated.

The regime has done little to hide its desire to eliminate the Jewish state.

In 2017, a “doomsday” clock was unveiled at an anti-Israel rally attended by President Hassan Rouhani as part of annual “Quds Day” observations, during the final days of Ramadan. 

The clock depicts a timeline for Israel’s destruction: 8,411 days, roughly 23 years, fulfilling a 2015 prediction by the country’s top leader, Ali Khamenei.

Last month, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace forces, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, claimed Israel was “doomed to disappear” and any action taken by Jerusalem against the theocratic regime would only accelerate its destruction.

Additionally, Iranian Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi called for the elimination of the Jewish state.

“We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter,” he said. “We want to destroy Zionism in the world.” 

In September, he cast the United States as the Iranian republic’s top enemy while describing his country’s commitment to the elimination of Israel. “Our strategy towards the Zionist entity never changes: the removal of the Zionist entity,” he said. “Israel must be eliminated.”

That same month, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian declared his nation’s “willpower is dedicated” to ending Zionism.

In May, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the Muslim world to keep fighting Israel, declaring the Jewish state a “terrorist garrison” that must be eliminated.

The latest threats come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over failing nuclear deal negotiations, as President Joe Biden and his administration have been trying to renew the Iran nuclear deal of 2015, which offered Iran sanctions relief in return for promises not to enrich uranium beyond a certain level, though only for a limited period. 

Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, claims its nuclear program is for energy purposes, but world leaders — including the six nations that joined the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity — say enriching uranium may lead to Iran’s ability to quickly create a nuclear weapon.

The Obama-led nuclear deal — deemed fatally flawed and highly one-sided by many, and from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 — delineates an enrichment limit of 3.67 percent.

Iran has been accused of violating the agreement as Tehran produces more enriched uranium.

Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency told member nations in its confidential quarterly report that Iran has an estimated stock of 39 pounds of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent fissile purity, an increase of almost eight kilograms since August.

Nevertheless, current nuclear talks in Vienna may see the United States and other world powers provide Iran with economic sanctions relief in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program.

In October, U.S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley warned that Iran successfully achieving nuclear capabilities in the near future is a realistic scenario.

“We have to prepare for a world … where Iran doesn’t have constraints on its nuclear program,” he said, adding that options are being considered to “deal with” such a scenario even as the Biden administration seeks a return to the Iran deal.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), along with Republican colleagues, blasted President Biden and his administration for displaying weakness in its relations with Iran, having “inexplicably” removed sanctions from Iranian missile producers, and for “empowering” terrorists.

With an eye on nuclear weapons and through the support of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis in Yemen, Iran continues to be a growing global threat to the interests of many countries.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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