I can't imagine living daily life in proximity to a country (and its leadership at a minimum) who have publicly stated they want to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. It's a strange situation especially given the fact that Iran was one of the first states to recognize Israel after its founding in 1948. Of course back then, Israel was more concerned about the Arab threat....and Iran was on friendly terms with the U.S. The old adage of "enemy of my enemy is my friend" w/ respect to Iran and the Arab nations back then would seem to apply.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been pretty consistent in his rhetoric against Israel going so far as to future-cast the lack of Israel's existence "in 25 years..." That comment was made in 2015 so I guess we have another 15 years to go. Maybe that was the timeframe within which he originally thought Iran could produce a nuclear weapon strong enough to accomplish Iran's goal?
Ahmad Alamolhoda (a senior Iranian cleric) stated in in 2013 that "destruction of Israel is one of the pillars of the Iranian Islamic regime.
Looking at the map, it's hard to visualize how an actual battlefield with ground forces on ground forces would work out if that is where this conflict is headed. Either or both countries would have to essentially invade Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to get there. My money is on a withering air campaign carried out by Israel alongside a robust and ever-changing clandestine / special-ops type campaign from within the country.
I can't imagine living daily life in proximity to a country (and its leadership at a minimum) who have publicly stated they want to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. It's a strange situation especially given the fact that Iran was one of the first states to recognize Israel after its founding in 1948. Of course back then, Israel was more concerned about the Arab threat....and Iran was on friendly terms with the U.S. The old adage of "enemy of my enemy is my friend" w/ respect to Iran and the Arab nations back then would seem to apply.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been pretty consistent in his rhetoric against Israel going so far as to future-cast the lack of Israel's existence "in 25 years..." That comment was made in 2015 so I guess we have another 15 years to go. Maybe that was the timeframe within which he originally thought Iran could produce a nuclear weapon strong enough to accomplish Iran's goal?
Ahmad Alamolhoda (a senior Iranian cleric) stated in in 2013 that "destruction of Israel is one of the pillars of the Iranian Islamic regime.
Looking at the map, it's hard to visualize how an actual battlefield with ground forces on ground forces would work out if that is where this conflict is headed. Either or both countries would have to essentially invade Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to get there. My money is on a withering air campaign carried out by Israel alongside a robust and ever-changing clandestine / special-ops type campaign from within the country.