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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Monday evening to a threat issued by an Iranian commander, saying that if Iran attacks Tel Aviv, it "would be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate."

Haaretz Weekly Episode 15Haaretz

Speaking at a rally earlier Monday celebrating the40th anniversaryof the Islamic revolution, asenior Revolutionary Guards commander said that Iranwould demolish entire cities in Israel if the United States attacked the Islamic Republic.

I do not ignore the threats of the Iranian regime but neither am I intimidated by them," Netanyahu said. "If this regime makes the awful mistake of trying to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, it will not succeed. However, this would be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate. They should take this into account.

Yadollah Javani, the Guards' deputy head for political affairs was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA that"the United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us despite all its defensive and military assets. But if they attack us, we willraze Tel Aviv and Haifato the ground,"

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched and some burned U.S. and Israeli flags on Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the triumph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shi'ite cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic Revolution that rattles the West to this day.

>>Burned by Israel strikes, Iran to move weapons supply center out of Damascus

On Feb 11, 1979, Iran's army declared its neutrality, paving the way for the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the United States' closest ally in the Middle East.

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State TV showed crowds defying cold rainy weather and carrying Iranian flags while shouting "Death to Israel, Death to America," trademark chants of the revolution which ousted the United States' most important ally in the Middle East.

"Much to the dismay of America, the revolution has reached its 40th year," read one banner.

Marchers carried cardboard cutouts of dogs.One had the face of Trump and the other the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

State TV showed a cartoon of the Shah being thrown into the "dustbin of history", wearing clothes in U.S. colors and holding Iranian newspapers headlined "The Shah has left!"

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Netanyahu fires back at Iran: Attack Tel Aviv and 'it'll be ...

Religion

The vast majority of Iranians are Muslims of the Ithn Ashar, or Twelver, Shite branch, which is the official state religion. The Kurds and Turkmen are predominantly Sunni Muslims, but Irans Arabs are both Sunni and Shite. Small communities of Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are also found throughout the country.

The two cornerstones of Iranian Shism are the promise of the return of the divinely inspired 12th imamMuammad al-Mahd al-ujjah, whom Shites believe to be the mahdiand the veneration of his martyred forebears. The absence of the imam contributed indirectly to the development in modern Iran of a strong Shite clergy whose penchant for status, particularly in the 20th century, led to a proliferation of titles and honorifics unique in the Islamic world. The Shite clergy have been the predominant political and social force in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

There is no concept of ordination in Islam. Hence, the role of clergy is played not by a priesthood but by a community of scholars, the ulama (Arabic ulam). To become a member of the Shite ulama, a male Muslim need only attend a traditional Islamic college, or madrasah. The main course of study in such an institution is Islamic jurisprudence (Arabic fiqh), but a student need not complete his madrasah studies to become a faqh, or jurist. In Iran such a low-level clergyman is generally referred to by the generic term mullah (Arabic al-mawl, lord; Persian mull) or khnd or, more recently, rn (Persian: spiritual). To become a mullah, one need merely advance to a level of scholarly competence recognized by other members of the clergy. Mullahs staff the vast majority of local religious posts in Iran.

An aspirant gains the higher status of mujtahida scholar competent to practice independent reasoning in legal judgment (Arabic ijtihd)by first graduating from a recognized madrasah and obtaining the general recognition of his peers and then, most important, by gaining a substantial following among the Shite community. A contender for this status is ordinarily referred to by the honorific hojatoleslm (Arabic ujjat al-Islm, proof of Islam). Few clergymen are eventually recognized as mujtahids, and some are honoured by the term ayatollah (Arabic yat Allh, sign of God). The honorific of grand ayatollah (yat Allh al-um) is conferred only upon those Shite mujtahids whose level of insight and expertise in Islamic canon law has risen to the level of one who is worthy of being a marja-e taqld (Arabic marja al-taqld, model of emulation), the highest level of excellence in Iranian Shism.

There is no real religious hierarchy or infrastructure within Shism, and scholars often hold independent and varied views on political, social, and religious issues. Hence, these honorifics are not awarded but attained by scholars through general consensus and popular appeal. Shites of every level defer to clergymen on the basis of their reputation for learning and judicial acumen, and the trend has become strong in modern Shism for every believer, in order to avoid sin, to follow the teachings of his or her chosen marja-e taqld. This has increased the power of the ulama in Iran, and it has also enhanced their role as mediators to the divine in a way not seen in Sunni Islam or in earlier Shism.

Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are the most significant religious minorities. Christians are the most numerous group of these, Orthodox Armenians constituting the bulk. The Assyrians are Nestorian, Protestant, and Roman Catholic, as are a few converts from other ethnic groups. The Zoroastrians are largely concentrated in Yazd in central Iran, Kermn in the southeast, and Tehrn.

Religious toleration, one of the characteristics of Iran during the Pahlavi monarchy, came to an end with the Islamic revolution in 1979. While Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are recognized in the constitution of 1979 as official minorities, the revolutionary atmosphere in Iran was not conducive to equal treatment of non-Muslims. Among these, members of the Bah faitha religion founded in Iranwere the victims of the greatest persecution. The Jewish population, which had been significant before 1979, emigrated in great numbers after the revolution.

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The Iranian navy plans to deploy warships into the Atlantic Ocean, a senior Iranian commander announced Friday.

Iranian warships will set sail for the Atlantic in March, Rear Adm. Touraj Hassani, Iran's naval deputy commander, told state media IRNA, adding that Iran's new stealth destroyer the Sahand could be a part of the naval flotilla deployed to the Atlantic for a five-month operation.

Iran launched the domestically produced destroyer at the start of December. At that time, Hassani suggested that Iran may send two to three warships to Venezuela.

Read More: Amid rising tensions with the US, Iran launched a new stealth destroyer that it says can evade radar at sea

The announcement comes as Iran bristles at the presence of a US Navy aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier is currently operating in the Persian Gulf, its presence specifically intended as a deterrent for hostile Iranian activities.

And Iran's not pleased. "We will not allow Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to come near our territorial waters in the Persian Gulf," Iranian Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari warned in December.

Read More: The US Navy is sending an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in a message to a belligerent Iran

Iran has long desired to counter American activities in its home region by showing the flag near American waters and elsewhere, Reuters reported.

"By their continuous presence in international waters, Iranian naval forces aim to implement the orders of commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), wave the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, thwart the Iran-ophobia plots, and secure shipping routes," Hassani explained.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been on the rise since President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, as well as reimpose sanctions, last year. Whether or not Iran will, or even can, send warships into the Atlantic remains debatable.

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Iran says it will send warships into the Atlantic - Business ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A powerful Iranian council approved an anti-money laundering bill on Saturday, state media reported, a major step towards reforms that would bring Iran into line with global norms and could facilitate foreign trade in the face of U.S sanctions.

FILE PHOTO: An exchange currency dealer sits at his shop as he waits for customer in Tehran's business district October 24, 2011. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

Iran has been trying to implement standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental organization that underpins the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Foreign businesses say Irans compliance with FATF standards and its removal from the organizations blacklist are essential if they are to increase investment, especially after reimposition of the U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

However, Iranian hardliners have opposed passing legislation toward compliance with the FATF, arguing it could hamper Iranian financial support for allies such as Lebanons Hezbollah, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization.

Parliament last year passed the anti-money laundering bill, one of four amendments Iran needs to implement to meet FATF requirements, but the Guardian Council, a vetting body, rejected it, saying it was against Islam and the constitution.

On Saturday, the Expediency Council, a body intended to resolve disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, approved the bill with some changes, state news agency IRNA said, quoting a member of the council.

The move came after Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani - the chief of hardline judiciary - was appointed last week as the head of the Expediency Council. He is the brother of Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament.

Seven months after his harsh dismissal of parliamentary efforts to adapt FATF and other international conventions on money laundering, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to have warmed to the reforms, a reversal that experts say is aimed at preventing Irans economic collapse.

In recent months, cities have been rocked by demonstrations as factory workers, teachers, truck drivers and farmers protested against economic hardship. The sanctions have depressed the value of Irans rial currency and aggravated annual inflation fourfold to nearly 40 percent in November.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed the sanctions on its banking and energy sectors, hoping to curb its missile and nuclear programs and counter its growing influence in the Middle East.

European signatories of the nuclear deal are still committed to the accord and seek to launch a mechanism, a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV), aiming to sidestep the U.S. financial system by using an EU intermediary to handle trade with Iran.

The director general of Irans Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, an advisory body set up by Khamenei, voiced his support for the FATF-related bills on Friday.

It is better to finalize the FATF and CFT (counter financing of terrorism regimes) in the earliest time, so the Europeans have no excuse not to implement the (SPV) mechanism, Abdolreza Faraji was quoted by semi-official ISNA new agency.

Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Alison Williams

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Iranian warships will sail for the first time into Atlantic waters early in 2019, the deputy commander of Iran's navy has said. The long-distance voyage would bring Iran's military forces closer to U.S. soil, and territorial waters, than they have been since the 1979 Islamic revolution which brought the current regime to power.

Iranian state-run broadcaster IRNA quoted deputy naval commander Admiral Touraj Hasnai Moqaddam as saying the "Iranian mission would take five months to complete" and would likely begin early in 2019. He said one of the vessels in the flotilla would be a new Iranian destroyer, the Sahand, which IRNA described as "the most advanced destroyer of West Asia."

According to the Reuters news agency, Iran claims the Sahand has landing space for helicopters and is armed with anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare capabilities.

IRNA claimed the new ship was "more advanced than its predecessor, Jamaran destroyer, with radar-evading capabilities."

Iran has threatened to send a flotilla into the western Atlantic, presumably to visit a friendly Latin American nation, such as Cuba, for years. The country's Navy chief said again in 2017 that it was a goal of the Islamic Republic.

"Our fleet of warships will be sent to the Atlantic Ocean in the near future and will visit one of the friendly states in South America and the Gulf of Mexico," Iran's state-run Fars news agency quoted Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi as saying in November 2017.

The tension between Iran and the U.S. has mounted after President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement reached under his predecessor and his move to reinstate harsh economic sanctions on Tehran.

While Iran's navy and Revolutionary guard vessels often harass American warships in the Persian Gulf, close to their home waters, it remains unclear how they might behave in the vast open waters of the Atlantic, especially under the watchful eye of the far superior U.S. military.

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Iran navy to sail warships into Atlantic to Gulf of Mexico ...