Tehran [Iran], July 17: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused Israel of seeking to "overthrow the system" in its attack on Tehran in June and vowed to respond more strongly if attacked again.
In a statement broadcast on state television on July 16, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel 's "calculation and plan" in the June conflict was to weaken the system by targeting important figures and sensitive centers in Iran, according to AFP.
Mr Khamenei said Israel's actions were aimed at "destabilizing and pushing people into the streets to overthrow the system".
Israel launched an attack on Iran on June 13, carrying out a series of fierce airstrikes that killed a series of senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The attack opened a 12-day conflict in which the US also bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Khamenei said Iran was ready to respond to any further attacks and was capable of delivering a stronger blow than last month's conflict, according to Reuters.
During the 12-day conflict, Iran has launched missiles towards Israeli territory and attacked the US Al-Udeid base in Qatar. "The base attacked by Iran is an extremely sensitive US base in the region. A bigger blow could hit the US and other parties," Khamenei said.
The conflict comes two days before scheduled nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. So far, dialogue has not been restored. Iran has stressed that diplomatic avenues remain open but has demanded assurances from the United States that it will not take further military action.
The United States and three major European countries have set a deadline of late August for Iran to find a deal. If the deadline is missed, Europe will restore sanctions on Tehran. Iran's parliament issued a statement on July 16 saying the country would only resume nuclear talks with the United States if certain conditions were met, but did not clarify what those conditions were.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
