TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Saturday that it is the habit of the Zionist Israeli regime to “blackmail the world” and spread hatred against Iran.

“It is their modus operandi to blackmail the world,” Kanaani tweeted.

The remarks by Kanaani came after Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid made military threats against Iran while speaking at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

However, Kanaani said the Islamic Republic has “proven that it won't hesitate to give a dreadful response to any aggression.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman added Lapid as the prime minister of the world’s “number one” terrorist regime is “mimicking his failed predecessor” Naftali Bennett and abuses the UN podium “to spread hatred and threaten Iranian nation.”

In part of his speech, Lapid accused Iran of launching an antisemitic campaign against Israel.

Contrary to the claims by Lapid and former Israeli officials, Iran is the only Muslim state that hosts the largest Jewish community in West Asia. All divine religious minorities, including Jews, have representative in the Iranian parliament.

He added, "Iran’s regime hates Jews, hates women, …, hates the West."

Like other former Israeli prime ministers, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Lapid claimed that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, saying, "If the Iranian regime gets a nuclear weapon, they will use it." He added, "It needs to be made clear to Iran, that if it advances its nuclear program, the world will not respond with words, but with military force.”

Again, contrary to such a claim, Iran, unlike Israel, is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its nuclear activities are subject to the most intensive inspections by the international Atomic Energy Agency.