Tel Aviv [Israel], April 19 : Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi threatened on Tuesday to "flatten" Tel Aviv and Haifa, as Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. This came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Iran, the modern-day equivalent of Nazi Germany, Times of Israel reported.
The comments by Iran President Ebrahim Raisi came as the country marked its annual Army Day with fighter jets and helicopters flying overhead in Tehran, and Iran submarines sailing across its waters during a ceremony.
The day celebrates Iran's regular military whose expeditionary forces operate across the wider Mideast and aid Iran-allied terror groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Guard also routinely has tense encounters with the US Navy, Times of Israel reported.
Speaking at the ceremony, Raisi said that Israel is suspected of carrying out a series of attacks targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites since the collapse of its deal with world powers.
"Enemies, particularly the Zionist regime, have received the message that any tiny action against (our) country will prompt a harsh answer from the armed forces, which will accompany the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv," Raisi said.
Raisi also reiterated a demand for the US to leave the Mideast. American policy since the Carter administration has viewed protecting the Persian Gulf region as crucial to securing global energy supplies. A fifth of the world's oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, Times of Israel reported.
"The hand of our armed forces warmly shakes the hand of the regional nations that intend to create security in the region," the president said.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions, and a diplomatic agreement was reached in China. In the time since, Saudi Arabia also has been involved in a prisoner swap with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, with hopes such a deal could see an end to that country's years-long proxy war.
Speaking at a Yad Vashem national ceremony to mark the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday evening, Netanyahu likened today's Iran to Nazi Germany as an entity currently representing an existential threat to the Jewish people, reprising a theme from his previous speeches for the same occasion, Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu said that the calls to exterminate the Jewish people have not stopped, and today come from Iran. He stressed that past victories do not guarantee future wins, saying Israel must be able to "defend itself by itself against any enemy, any threat."
Israel and Iran maintained close relations, particularly on energy and security, during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in a popular 1979 uprising led by Islamist clerics.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is one of the most solemn dates on the Israeli calendar.
The country grinds to a halt for two minutes for a siren to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.
Survivors typically attend remembrance ceremonies where they share their stories, and some participate in memorial marches at former concentration camps in Europe.
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