Israel’s destruction remains a core aim for the Islamic Republic, Iran’s top armed forces spokesman said on Thursday at a memorial ceremony in Tehran, as senior officials sharpened their rhetoric amid growing talk of another clash with Israel.
Abolfazl Shekarchi said the late Revolutionary Guard commander Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, widely regarded as the father of Iran’s ballistic-missile program and killed in a 2011 explosion at an IRGC base west of Tehran, had “carried the wish to see Israel wiped out,” adding: “With God’s help, this wish will be fulfilled.”
He said Iran’s aerospace forces grow “more powerful by the day” and insisted the Islamic Republic becomes stronger when its commanders are killed.
“We never become weak — with every martyr we become more steadfast,” he said.
Other senior commanders used the same gathering to revisit the twelve day June war with Israel. Deputy IRGC chief Ali Fadavi said “all the world stood with Israel but they did not succeed,” adding that Iran had “acted on its duty” during the fighting and that “when duties are carried out, the promises of God are fulfilled.”
Vahid Azizi, head of parliament’s national security committee, said Tehran viewed the conflict as “an opportunity to understand the shortcomings and the needs” and as a chance to “prepare for what may come next.”
Growing signals of a new confrontation
The messaging reflects broader signals in Tehran, where several officials have spoken more openly in recent weeks about the prospect of fresh fighting with Israel. Some have said Iran is ready for “all scenarios” as political and military rhetoric intensifies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset this week that Iran “remains a threat,” yet was weakened in the June war. He said Israel had “distanced and neutralized the nuclear threat and the ballistic threat alike” and warned that any next clash would be “much more aggressive” and could last far longer than twelve days.
