Iran threatens to ‘raze Tel Aviv’ and destroy Dimona if Israel strikes its nuclear sites

Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB TV2 aired a video describing what it claims would be the response to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, warning that Israeli targets would be destroyed within minutes and that a follow-up wave of rocket attacks would “raze Tel Aviv.” The video aired on December 17, and was reported upon by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute monitor group on Monday.

Younes Shadlou, an official from the state broadcasting agency (IRIB), said that if Israeli jets strike Iran, the base from which they took off would likely be destroyed before they make it back to Israel. He said that in the first phase of Iran's response, the IRGC Aerospace Force's tactical missiles Dezful and Khaybar Crusher missiles would target Israel's "nuclear warhead production site" in Dimona, and that in the second phase, Iran's Sejjil missiles would raze Tel Aviv to the ground. He also said that these plans are a response to a joint US-Israel exercise simulating an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"A few days ago, the Zionist regime conducted another joint exercise with the U.S. to simulate an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, like the Natanz uranium enrichment site. Let's assume that Israeli jets manage to reach the Natanz nuclear site in one piece, and let's assume that they manage to bomb this site and damage it,” Shadlou said.

"Even if they manage to leave Iran's sky safely, it will take them at least an hour to return to their main base in the occupied lands. The question is whether there would be any base left for them to land at. This is what the first few minutes of an Iranian response will look like. In less than seven minutes, the tactical missiles of the IRGC's Aerospace Force – like the solid-fueled Dezful and the newest Khaybar Crusher missiles – will destroy their targets with great accuracy, if they are launched from a place like Natanz where One of their designated targets is located: Israel's nuclear warhead production site in Dimona. Obviously, this is a simulation of the attack. When the first wave of the attack reaches its target, the IRGC strategic missiles will be fueled in underground silos, and the missile bases will be ready for the second wave of the attack. These missiles, like the Sejjil, strike their targets at velocities greater than ten times the speed of sound, and they carry a one-ton payload," he added.

The speaker of the channel asked Shadlou if the “Zionist regime is not big enough to be considered among the enemies of the Iranian people”. To which Shadlou said that it was the reason that Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei had warned Israel eleven years ago, saying, "If they make even the slightest mistake, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.” The remarks were followed by footage showing multiple launches of surface-to-surface missiles and impacts on the ground as Shadlou predicted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would launch barrages of solid-fuel missiles that “in less than seven minutes will destroy their targets with great accuracy.”

Can Iran make a nuclear bomb?

Iran’s state media announced last month that it had begun producing enriched uranium at 60% purity at the country’s underground Fordo nuclear plant, in addition to enrichment to the same level at a plant in Natanz that it said had begun in 2019. Enrichment to 60% purity is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Nonproliferation experts have warned in recent months that Iran now has enough 60%-enriched uranium to reprocess into fuel for at least one nuclear bomb, reported Israeli media.