Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is warning Israel against making advances on Iran.
This comes in the backdrop of displayed homegrown weapons and defence systems as Iran marks National Army Day today.
The occasion has been celebrated in a large televised parade in the capital, Tehran, which was attended by Raisi and Iranian military officials.
“Our message to the Zionist regime is that if you are after normalising relations with some countries in the region, you must know that not even your smallest movements are hidden from our intelligence, security and armed forces,” Raisi said in reference to Israel.
“And you must know that if you make the smallest movement against the Iranian nation, the destination of our armed forces will be the centre of the Zionist regime,” Raisi added.
Last month Iran fired missiles at a site in Erbil which is the capital of northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
Tehran claimed that the site was being used by Israel, despite denials from the governor of Erbil.
In a message to the United States, Raisi referred to an acknowledgement by US State Department spokesman Ned Price that former President Donald Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of harsh sanctions against Iran had failed to achieve its goal of subduing the country.
“This is the faith of those who wish to be hostile to the holy establishment of the Islamic Republic,” Raisi said.
The president’s comments follow the stalling of indirect negotiations with the US seeking to to lift sanctions and restore the country’s 2015 nuclear deal.
“We have no agreement in hand to comment on,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh.