The Iranians have put President Obama on notice; in the event of an attack on an Iranian nuclear facility, Iran will counter with missiles that are aimed at “Israel and all U.S. interests around the world.”
According to the Iranian newspaper Kayhan, a mouthpiece for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Iranian’s have “11,000 missiles ready to launch” and plan to use them as a counter-attack during the first minutes of any American or Israeli-led attack on Iran.
The newspaper report also made it clear that America would find a war with Iran to be far more harmful to American interests than the war with Iraq. Reported the Kayhan: “America fully knows that Iran is not Iraq [and that] a war with Iran would jeopardize all its interests in the region.”
And over the weekend, Khamenei added that even if the U.S. doesn’t attack–if the U.S. just continues dealing with Iran via sanctions–the Iranians have other “threats” for America that they will resort to “whenever it is necessary.”
In other words, if the Americans attack Iran, the Iranians are threatening to counter with their own version of shock and awe. But, if the Americans don’t attack–if instead the Obama administration just continues to uphold sanctions against Iran–the Iranians reserve the right to launch a little shock and awe anyway (or to cut off our oil supply).
Ironic, isn’t it? It was just days ago that Khamenei was praising Obama for keeping Israel at bay and for talking as if American military action against Iran was a distant and unlikely option. Apparently, however, the Iranians have figured out what we Americans figured out following Obama’s inauguration in January 2009: that this President will say whatever he needs to say in the moment to get out of that moment on Monday, but that doesn’t mean he won’t turn around and do the complete opposite on Tuesday.