Defense minister Vahidi tells army volunteers 'Israel has to be punished for what it has done to the Muslims in Palestine'

  Iranian Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi said Israel would be attacked with 150,000 missiles if it launches any military action against the Islamic Republic, the Iran Independent News Service reported Sunday.

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 Speaking before 50,000 army volunteers in Bushehr, the minister said "Iran is not Iraq or Afghanistan, if the Americans make the mistake and attack Iran, we will show them how to fight,” adding “Israel has to be punished for what it has done to the Muslims in Palestine and Lebanon."

 However, according to Iranian news outlets Vahidi did not specify if the missiles would be fired from Iran or other locations.

On Saturday a senior commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said the country would target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey if the US or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic. 

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' aerospace division, was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what it sees as an increase in threats from the US and Israel.

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