TEHRAN – Iranian officials have responded to the stark threats issued by the head of Israel’s military against Iran, saying the Israelis use warmongering rhetoric but they are unable to do anything against Iran.

Iran’s First Vice President, Es’haq Jahangiri, briefly responded on Wednesday to threatening remarks by Aviv Kochavi, the chief of staff of Israeli armed forces.

Commenting on Kochavi’s threats, Jahangiri told reporters, “Israel is not in a position to issue a threat against Iran.”

Mahmoud Vaezi, the Iranian president's chief of staff, also responded to the Israeli threats, saying that Israelis keep talking all the time but can’t do anything against Iran.

“Our people and the people of the region both are familiar with the rhetoric of the Zionist regime’s officials. They talk more and seek psychological warfare, and they have virtually no plan and no ability to do so,” Vaezi told reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, according to the ISNA news agency.

“Our armed forces are trained in defending Iran, and the various drills we have held are a sign that we do not intend to go to war, but we are serious about defending the country,” Vaezi said.

He also said that some Israeli officials think that everything they say will be accepted by Washington. According to Vaezi, during the Trump administration, the former president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was the functionary of the Zionists in Washington and served the interests of Israel but now things have changed after Joe Biden won the U.S. election.

“I think the new U.S. administration is independent like other countries and that this Zionist regime’s rhetoric is psychological warfare,” the president chief of staff continued.

Vaezi pointed out that the U.S. will possibly return to the Iran nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – but Israel and Saudi Arabia are working to make sure that that won’t happen.

“Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime are lobbying in Washington but we should not take that seriously,” Vaezi noted.

The remarks by Iranian officials came after Kochavi claimed that he had ordered several plans to launch offensive operations against Iran while voicing Israel’s opposition to any efforts to revive the JCPOA or even to improve it.

“I have instructed the IDF to prepare several operational plans in addition to existing ones, which we will develop throughout the coming year. The power to initiate them lies with the political echelon. However, the offensive options need to be prepared, ready and on the table,” Kochavi said in remarks delivered at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies 14th Annual International Conference.

“I would like to clarify my position regarding the JCPOA: Even if an improved agreement is reached, it will be a bad agreement at the operational and strategic level. Therefore, such an agreement must not be enabled,” he continued.

The Israeli threats against Iran come in the midst of renewed efforts by Europe and the new U.S. administration to revive the JCPOA from which the Trump administration quit on May 8, 2018.

SM/PA