TEHRAN -- A senior Iranian military commander said Monday joint military cooperation between Israel and certain regional Arab states are due to the occupying regime’s desperation.
Abolfazl Shekarchi, who is spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, made the remark after Zionist war minister Benny Gantz claimed that the regime was building a U.S.-sponsored regional air defense alliance in cooperation with some regional Arab states to foil what he described as “Iran’s attacks.”
“The main reason behind this measure is merely desperation of the Zionist regime,” Shekarchi said.
Pointing to the reasons behind the regime’s establishment of relations with some regional countries, the commander said, “The criminal Zionist officials have acknowledged the pace of the collapse of their bloodthirsty regime.”
The occupying regime of Israel has been making attempts to draw closer to U.S.-aligned Arab countries in the Persian Gulf in recent years and has offered them defense cooperation.
In a briefing to Zionist lawmakers, Gantz unveiled what he dubbed the “Middle East Air Defense Alliance” and said the regime’s cooperation with Arab states is already under way.
“Over the past year I have been leading an extensive program, together with my partners at the Pentagon and in the U.S. administration, that will strengthen the cooperation between Israel and countries in the region,” he said, according to an official transcript.
He claimed that the program has already enabled the successful interception of Iranian attempts to attack Israel and other countries.
The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has already warned neighboring countries against allowing Israelis into the Persian Gulf, saying such a move would bring nothing but chaos and instability to the region.
Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri added that if a country allows “the miserable child-killer regime” in Tel Aviv to establish a foothold in this region, that country and the entire region will be inflicted with insecurity, chaos, and instability.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Shekarchi played down the flying of U.S. B-52 bombers over the Persian Gulf, saying it was just a show.
“The United States is well aware that in case of a strategic mistake, it will experience irreparable and more dangerous blows than ever before,” the senior commander said.
The Zionist military said in a February statement that Israeli F-15 fighter jets have escorted an American B-52 bomber as it made its way en route to the Persian Gulf.
The B-52H Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, flew from its base in the United Kingdom, through the Straits of Gibraltar, over the Mediterranean, and out over the Red Sea, before traveling back on roughly the same route to the UK.
Earlier this month, the commander of the Iranian army’s ground force warned that Iran will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa if the occupying regime of Israel makes any mistake against Tehran.
“By the order of the Leader of the Revolution, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground for any mistake made by the enemy,” Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari said.