A senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned on Wednesday any country involved in any Israeli aggression against Islamic Republic will "pay its price", Iranian Tasnim news agency reported, amid an impasse between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.
"The Zionist regime (Israel) is considered a major threat to Iran's security and all governments that cooperate with this regime's aggression against Iran's security will pay its price," Tasnim quoted senior commander Gholamali Rashid as saying.
Israel, which sees Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence, has warned of military action against the country's nuclear sites if the diplomacy fails to curb Tehran's nuclear work.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued a stern warning to Iran standing next to the IDF air force F-35 stealth fighter jet.
"If Iran continues to try us, it will discover Israel's long arms and capabilities," Lapid said. "It's still too early to know whether we succeeded in thwarting the nuclear deal, but Israel is prepared for any threat and any situation," he said.
"We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us. As agreed between me and [U.S.] President [Joe]Biden, we have full freedom of action to act as we see fit in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threat." the prime minister said.
Iran has repeatedly said it will give a crushing response to any aggression.
Meanwhile the UN Nuclear Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday that Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60%, close to weapons-grade, has grown to well above the amount that by one definition is enough, if enriched further, for a nuclear bomb.
the IAEA issued a second report saying Iran had still not provided credible answers on the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites that appear to mainly be old and which the IAEA has been investigating for years.