AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
One of Iran's top hardline clerics warned that if Iran is attacked by the United States and Israel, it will retaliate with ballistic missile strikes against Tel Aviv.
“If they (the United States and Israel) want to carry out an aggression against Iran, they should be afraid of the day that our 2,000-kilometer (1,250 mile) range missile will hit the heart of Tel Aviv,” said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
He was referring to Iran's Shahab-3 missiles which are capable of hitting targets around 2,000 kilometers away.
“The 70-kilometer (43-mile) range Hezbollah missiles turned Israeli cities into ghost cities,” said Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, a body which supervises supreme leader's work.
“(US President George W.) Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert should learn their lesson and understand that playing with Islam is like messing with the lion's tail,” he said in an interview on state-run television.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed victory on Monday after a ceasefire took effect to end a bloody conflict in Lebanon between the guerrilla movement and Israel.
