An Iranian official closely tied to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has released a detailed plan to attack Israel, according to a Middle East media monitoring site.
Alireza Forghani, an Iranian politician and staunch ally of the regime, recently released an article titled, "Iran Must Attack Israel by 2014," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The article comes amid an ongoing media debate about whether the Iranian regime’s rhetoric against Israel is as homicidal as some claim. Forghani’s article offers definitive proof that Iran is determined to annihilate the Jewish state.
While some in the American media would downplay the regime’s murderous language, observers on Capitol Hill are viewing Iran with growing alarm.
"When the outrageous rhetoric from Ahmadinejad and people like Forghani is coupled with the capability, with nuclear weapons, to actually destroy the Jewish State of Israel, we can't afford to dismiss what they are repeatedly telling the world," said a Capitol Hill aide who tracks Iran. "The Hill is taking the threat from Iran very seriously."
Forghani’s recent article reads like a blueprint for the destruction of Israel. In it, he "claims that Tehran is capable of annihilating Israel within less than nine minutes using its arsenal of missiles and by deploying operational combat units throughout the world," MEMRI writes.
Forghani ideologically roots his essay in Khamenei’s extremist interpretation of Islam, arguing that Muslims are obligated to attack Israel for it’s so-called occupation of Palestinian lands.
He advocates for a two-stage attack, the first of which would focus on Israel’s most densely populated areas, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. Forghani states that Iran could use its medium-range Shahab-3 missiles to annihilate these cities, which are home to around 60 percent of Israel’s population.
During the second phase of the attack, Iran could use its solid-fueled Sejil missiles to destroy Israeli power plants, sewage treatment facilities, and transportation infrastructure, among other sites, according to the essay, which was translated into English by MEMRI.
The ultimate goal, according to Forghani: The "final annihilation of Israel’s people."
"It would seem that the article, whose publication coincided with statements by [Ayatollah] Khamenei, in his Friday speech of February 3, about the need to wipe out the ‘cancerous growth’ of Israel, is the regime's response to recent statements by Israeli leaders regarding the necessity of attacking Iran," MEMRI writes in its analysis of Forghani’s essay. "While Forghani, who notes that his article expresses his own views and not necessarily those of the regime, states that Iran must take it upon itself to annihilate Israel, Khamenei has avoided pitting Iran as an active combatant against Israel, keeping his country in a supportive role of assisting other forces against Israel."