"Israel could be blown up in a single operation," said the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami.
Known for his harsh anti-Israeli rhetoric, Salami downplayed the Jewish state's defenses as a security "bulb" that has been "burst" following a series of recent incidents. The Iranian commander enumerated Israel's "vulnerabilities" in "domino-style" attacks, for which he suggested the Islamic Republic's responsibility.
Salami referred to a powerful explosion at an Israeli plant for advanced weapons April 21. Israeli media, however, have reported that the blast took place during a routine test and left no casualties. The general included in his list the explosion at a big refinery in the city of Haifa, which Israeli officials described as a "fire" that they quickly contained.
"Then their spies were killed in the [Kurdish] Iraqi city of Erbil," Salami added. Earlier this month, Iranian media reported that an attack targeted a center operated by Israel's external intelligence agency, Mossad. Kurdish officials dismissed the reports as "false." Salami's list of Israeli vulnerabilities also covered the Israeli air defense system's failure to detect a missile that fell near the Dimona nuclear facility April 22.
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