Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a meeting with the families of the security forces killed during the Iran’s protests, in Tehran, Iran, December 9, 2022. Photo: Presidential Website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

JNS.org – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday threatened to “destroy Haifa and Tel Aviv” in response to the “smallest action” taken by Israel against the regime in Tehran, the Iranian government’s semi-official Mehrs news agency reported.

The remarks were made at a ceremony marking the Islamic Republic’s National Army Day, an event that annually falls on April 18, which this year coincides with Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

#Iran has commemorated its Army Day during a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raeisi and top military brass.https://t.co/tEvQn4H8B8

— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) April 18, 2023

The regime in Tehran routinely threatens Israel. In December of last year, Iran’s state-controlled IRIB TV2 aired a video threatening to “raze Tel Aviv” in response to an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities.

Speaking at the state opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2023 at Yad Vashem on Monday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned that past victories don’t guarantee future ones, citing the “relentless battle against those who seek to kill us.” He said Israel must not allow a nuclear Iran, and must fight its terrorist proxies.

The Israel Security Agency revealed on Monday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah tried to recruit residents of Judea and Samaria to commit terrorist attacks.

Yusuf Mansour and Marsil Mansour were arrested in recent months. The investigation found that efforts to recruit them as part of a terror operation were made by Hezbollah and the pair agreed to smuggle weapons inside the Green Line and sell them while assisting criminal elements in Israel.