Iran's Leader Urges Palestinians To Launch Violent Uprising, Iran Tested Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missile

Iran's Leader Urges Palestinians to Launch Violent Uprising

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is urging Palestinians to launch another violent "intifada" targeting Israelis, Reuters reported.

Speaking at a recent conference in Tehran, Khamenei called for Israel's destruction and referred to the Jewish state as a "cancerous tumor."

"... by Allah's permission, we will see that this intifada will begin a very important chapter in the history of fighting and that it will inflict another defeat on that usurping regime," Khamenei said, according to a transcript of the remarks featured on his website.

"The Palestinian intifada continues to gallop forward in a thunderous manner so that it can achieve its other goals until the complete liberation of Palestine," the Ayatollah added.

For years, senior Iranian figures have called for Israel's destruction. These statements, however, are not just rhetoric to invigorate domestic audiences. Iran has invested considerable resources to prop up terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hizballah, to militarily confront Israel. Iran also finances and explicitly encourages Palestinians to engage in individual terrorist initiatives.

Sanctions relief in the 2015 Iran nuclear enabled Iran to enhance terrorist operations and increase funding for Palestinians who attack Israelis. Last year, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon confirmed that every Palestinian terrorist's family will receive $7,000 for attacking Israelis and $30,000 if a family's home is demolished by the Israel Defense Forces. Financial transfers would be distributed through the Palestinian branch of Iran's 25-year-old "Shahid Institutions."

"The martyrs' blood will release the entire Palestine, from the river to the sea," Ambassador Mohammad Fathali said.

In January 2016, Hizballah's Unit 133 tried to coordinate a Palestinian terrorist cell in the West Bank, sending the operatives $5,000 to buy weapons to kill Israeli soldiers. Similar to previous Hamas attempts, Hizballah was trying to escalate Palestinian violence into a full-fledged uprising, seeking to introduce an organized element to a phenomenon that was largely characterized by individual acts.

Acting on Iranian orders, Hizballah was able to direct and coordinate dozens of Palestinian terrorist cells during the second Intifada. From 2002 to 2007, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hizballah directed and coordinated dozens of Palestinian terrorist networks, mostly cells that were part of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Throughout the 1990s and beginning of 2000s, Hizballah sent Lebanese operatives with foreign passports to Israel via Europe in order to support Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups devoted to sabotaging the Oslo Peace Process and damage the Palestinian Authority.

Ayatollah Khamenei's latest call for the Jewish state's destruction is much more than political bluster. His remarks are a direct signal to ignite widespread terrorist violence.

Report: Iran tested nuclear-capable cruise missile

German newspaper said the Sumar cruise missile was built in Iran and traveled around 600 km in its first known successful test.

Iran tested a cruise missile called "Sumar" that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons in addition to test-firing a medium-range ballistic missile on Sunday, German newspaper Die Welt reported Thursday, citing unspecified intelligence sources.

The newspaper said the Sumar cruise missile was built in Iran and traveled around 600 km in its first known successful test. The missile is believed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons and may have a range of 2,000 to 3,000 km, the paper said, citing intelligence sources.

Cruise missiles are harder to counter than ballistic missiles since they fly at lower altitudes and can evade enemy radar, confounding missile defense missiles and hitting targets deep inside an opponent's territory.

But the biggest advantage from Iran's point of view, a security expert told Die Welt, was that cruise missiles are not mentioned in any United Nations resolutions that ban work on ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

News of Iran's reported cruise missile test came hours after the White House put Iran "on notice" for its ballistic missile test and signaled that it could impose new sanctions, taking an aggressive posture toward Tehran that could raise tensions in the region.

Iran confirmed on Wednesday that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile, but said the test did not breach the Islamic Republic's nuclear agreement with world powers or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the pact.

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