RUTHFULLY YOURS

Iran’s anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism have reached unprecedented levels. The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently pointed out that the Islamic Republic has tens of thousands of missiles prepared outside of Iran to strike Israel.

Iran’s state-owned news agency, Tasnim, quoted General Hossein Salami as saying that “Hezbollah has 100,000 missiles that are ready to hit Israel to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories if the Zionist regime repeats its past mistakes.” He added that “today, the grounds for the annihilation and collapse of the Zionist regime are (present) more than ever.” In addition, Gen. Salami warned Israeli leaders that if they make the “wrong move,” Israel would come under attack.

A senior adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite unit Quds Force, Ahmad Karimpour, stated a few weeks ago that Iran could destroy Israel in eight minutes if the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave the order. According to the semi-official Fars News Agency, he said that “If the Supreme Leader’s orders [are] to be executed, with the abilities and the equipment at our disposal, we will raze the Zionist regime in less than eight minutes.”

In addition, Iran’s final decision-maker and autocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, published a plan after the nuclear agreement, explaining how to destroy Israel. Furthermore, he blatantly predicted that Israel would not be around in 25 years. He stated, “En Sha’a Allah [God willing], there will be no such thing as a Zionist regime in 25 years. Until then, struggling, heroic and jihadi morale will leave no moment of serenity for Zionists.”

Khamenei relies heavily on Hezbollah and IRGC to pursue his government’s anti-Israel and anti-US policies. Thanks to sanctions relief and billions of dollars the Obama administration is sending to Iran’s Central Bank from the American taxpayers, Hezbollah and Iran’s IRGC are amply funded. Iranian leaders are increasingly relying on and boasting about utilizing Hezbollah to wipe out Israel.

In a speech broadcast by the Shiite party’s Al-Manar station, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, scoffed at the recent US sanctions, stating that these sanctions will not impact his group whatsoever due to the fact that Hezbollah receives full financial and arms support from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The US Congress voted to impose fresh sanctions on Hezbollah by targeting those banks that are “knowingly facilitating a significant transaction or transactions for” Hezbollah and those financial institutions that are “knowingly facilitating a significant transaction or transactions of a person identified on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked persons.”

The Shiite leader ridiculed the law: “We do not have any business projects or investments via banks…We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, come from the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have no money in Lebanese banks, neither in the past nor now. We don’t transfer our money through the Lebanese banking system…. We totally reject this [United States] law until the Day of Judgment. … Even if the law is applied, we as a party and an organizational and jihadi movement, will not be hurt or affected” and he emphasized that his group “will not be affected” by any fresh sanctions. At a ceremony that marks 40 days after the death of a high level Hezbollah commander (Mustafah Bedreddine) in the Syrian capital Damascus, Nasrallah expressed that “as long as Iran has money, we have money… Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us from receiving it.”

Intriguingly, this week, the so-called moderate Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, began to publicly support those who chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” while they burned Israeli and American flags.  He stated, “The Zionist regime (Israel) is a regional base for America and the global arrogance … Disunity and discord among Muslim and terrorist groups in the region … have diverted us from the important issue of Palestine… We stand with the dispossessed Palestinian nation.” Although Iran pursues a sectarian agenda in the region, Rouhani joined Khamenei in accusing the US of dividing the Sunni and Shia. “The global arrogance (the United States and its allies) wants to create discord among Muslims … Unity is the only way to restore stability in the region.”

As long as Iranian mullahs are receiving billions of dollars from the White House, mainly coming from the American taxpayers, and as long as the mullahs are enjoying sanctions reliefs, Iran will gain more capacity to support and create Jihadist and militant groups whose major goals are to fight Israel and Washington, frighten Christians and Jews, and impose Islam on the world.