Iran: Israeli strike would be a suicide mission

Haaretz

Iran's defense minister said Sunday that any Israeli strike on Iran would constitute suicide, the official news agency IRNA reported.

“The Zionist regime is completely isolated and under no circumstances it can attack Iran unless she wants to commit a suicide," IRNA quoted Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi as saying. "It is due to the fact that it will receive deadly strikes from Iran which will make it unstable."

He stressed that Iran is developing its defense capabilities and has made significant progress thus far.

“Iran is in a unique position in all areas, including manufacture of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, as well as defense and assault airplanes. Iran has also made great progress in electronic warfare technology, aviation industries and missile technology,” IRNA quoted him as saying.

He also said that Iran's capture of the U.S. surveillance drone was a great achievement for Iranian scientists.

On Saturday, Iran's navy started ten days of maneuvers in the Persian Gulf. Naval commander Admiral Amir-Habibollah Sayari said the drill started over an area of 2,000 kilometers, from the Sea of Oman to the east of the Strait of Hormuz.

The armed forces have increased their maneuvers following renewed speculation about possible U.S or Israeli airstrikes against the country's nuclear sites.

Iran has so far denied having any plans to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit route for international oil shipments.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said last week that "if the region faced a war-like situation, then everything would then become war-like."