A Twitter account run by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday threatened to blow up the city of Dimona in the Negev desert, where a nuclear facility is located.
The IRGC account, with its 12,100 followers, posted a video showing multiple explosions in a desert. “Then on the day, we [God] will deal you the fiercest blow. We will surely inflict punishment, “ the IRGC wrote in Arabic, citing a quote from the Koran, adding the hashtag “Dimona.” The video is post-dated to Friday.
— IMA Media • ایما مدیا (@imamedia_org) December 25, 2021
The account provides a link to the IRGC’s Telegram account, with its 376,084 subscribers. Both the IRGC Twitter account and Telegram account show the IRGC logo—an arm raised while clutching a rifle.
The IRGC Arabic account only follows the Farsi language Twitter account of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, as well as a backup account for IRGC Arabic.
A December 13 tweet from the IRGC account reads: "In the event of foolishness on the part of the Zionist regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran is no longer ready to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, but to liberate holy Quds. If the security of the holy land of Iran is compromised, no one will taste the moment of security, whether those who are at 1,000 km or at 10,000 km.“
Quds is the Arabic name for the capital of Israel, Jerusalem.
Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled the Islamic Republic due to repression and who closely tracks Iranian regime social media activity told The Jerusalem Post that “An army is supposed to protect and defend the people and the soil of its country but I dont see any sign of my country in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, no name of Iran or the Iranian people is even mentioned in it.
"The Persian term Sepah-e Pasdaran has a great value and has its root in ancient Persian but the IRGC ruined it. Why should the IRGC publish its statements mostly in Arabic while the official language of Iran is Persian and most of the people in Iran speak and everyone understands Persian? Because it’s talking to its proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, Hashd al Shabi and the other entities under its commands not the Iranian people.
"The IRGC’s priority is the complete destruction of Israel and to follow Khomeini’s Ideology instead of defending its own people," she said.
In 2019, the US designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. The US State Department—under both Democrat and Republican administrations—has classified the Iranian regime as the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism. The IRGC is estimated to have murdered over 600 US military personnel in the Middle East.
The London-based Iran International news channel tweeted on Friday: "The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency says the Revolutionary Guards have simulated missile strikes against Israel's Dimona nuclear facility in the 'Great Prophet 17' military exercises."
Iran's foreign ministry Friday evening slammed the British foreign office's statement in condemnation of Iran's ballistic missiles, calling it "meddlesome".https://t.co/inmgT6TKtI
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 25, 2021
The Post reported last week that an Arabic language Twitter account of the Islamic Republic of Iran published an image on December 17 that showed the planned burned elimination of the Jewish state in 2022.
The picture shows Israel composed of nails and matches and a book of matches next to words in Hebrew and English declaring: “Just try and you will see.”
The book of matches, which is situated next to Israel in the image, says “Ballistic matchstick” and shows an Iranian regime flag on it. The apparent message is that the clerical regime is prepared to detonate the matches to destroy Israel in 2022.
In late November, the spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces, Brig.-Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, urged the total elimination of the Jewish state during an interview with an Iranian regime-controlled media outlet.
"We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter. We want to destroy Zionism in the world,” Shekarchi told the Iranian Students News Agency.
On December 15 the Tehran Times wrote on its front page “One wrong move,” with military targets listed within Israel.