Iran official hints Dimona reactor may be targeted

Ynetnews - Iran will respond to any Israeli or US attack against its nuclear sites with a "proportionate" reaction, the military adviser to the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday.

General Yahya Rahim Safavi, quoted by Fars news agency, said however that such an attack was unlikely.

Safavi further told Fars that despite warnings from Washington and Israel that "all options are on the table" if negotiations between Iran and major powers on Tehran's controversial nuclear program fail, conditions do not favor an assault.

"They may be able start one but they cannot end it and it remains in Iran's hands," the general said.

Khamenei's aide added that "the domestic political, economic and social conditions in America and the Zionist regime are not such as to have a new war in the region."

He said that US President Barack Obama "wants to get re-elected" and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet is "fragile."

Displaying expert knowledge in Israeli politics, Safavi noted that Netanyahu is in a coalition with Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and that a military operation may break up the coalition.

'One million Jews will flee Israel'

Safavi further noted that "The Zionists are living in such international conditions that if they intend to launch an attack against Iran, one million Jews will flee Israel in the first one or two weeks. Jews are very vulnerable there."

However, in case of an attack, "we will act against their military operation smartly, proportional to any damage that they inflict on us ... meaning we will hurt them as much as they hurt us." This may suggest that Iran would attempt to target the Dimona reactor.

Safavi again stressed that the entire State of Israel is within Iran's rocket range and that Hezbollah may join an Iranian counter-attack "with thousands of rockets against the Zionist regime."