Iran dismisses Israeli threat; threatens Zionists of 'crushing response'

Iran’s newly appointed defence minister has dismissed Israeli threats and warned the Zionist regime of a “crushing response”. For decades, both countries have been engaged in “psychological warfare” and have often accused each other of destruction and terrorism. On Monday, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani asserted that any “stupid” measure from Israel could cost them heavily.

"Any unwise and stupid measure will trigger a crushing response from Iran that would inflict heavy costs on the aggressors," Ashtiani was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Jerusalem and Washington have jointly conceived a high-level team to combat Iran’s expanding nuclear programme. Addressing media, Bennett reckoned that his American counterpart was “very clear” that he won’t accept Iran going nuclear ever. While Biden has vowed to revive the 2015 Nuclear deal with Iran, he had recently warned of “other measures” if negotiations failed.

Commenting on the same, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said that his country has made it very clear that its “advance defence power” is solely for the purpose of defending its borders and sovereignty. However, he cautioned that it was also capable of “dealing with any “potential threat or act of aggression.” It is imperative to note that earlier this month, UN Nuclear Watchdog IAEA said it didn’t expect Iran to return to JCPOA compliance before talks with the US had yielded a path to both nations returning to the deal as a whole. 

No talks on the revival of nuclear deal 

Signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) pact will not meet Iranian lawmakers at the United States General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss the revival of the stalled nuclear deal, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. It was previously reported that the signatories were planning to hold ministerial-level talks on the sidelines of the UNGA, however, Borrell debunked the claims saying that it was not on the agenda. 

“Some years it happens, some years it doesn’t happen. It’s not in the agenda,” said Borrell, who acts as a coordinator for the nuclear deal. Just a day ago, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had expressed optimism on the now cancelled meeting saying that it could build “momentum” towards kick-starting months of fraught talks on the deal. 

Image: AP