Iran-Israel rhetoric gets more aggressive

Iran is trying to strike Israeli targets around the world in a bid to stop the assassinations of its nuclear scientists, the head of Israel Security Agency (ISA) Yoram Cohen said on Thursday. According to the Israeli daily 'Haaretz,' Yoram Cohen told the audience of a forum in Tel Aviv that Iran held Israel responsible for the attacks on its nuclear experts, which have killed four scientists since November 2010. "It doesn't matter whether it's true or not that Israel took it out on Iranian nuclear scientists," Cohen said. "A country like Iran cannot let this go on. They want to deter Israel and extract a price so that decision makers in Israel think twice before they order an attack on an Iranian scientist." Cohen said Iran was using its Iranian Revolutionary Guards to hit Israeli targets. "Over the past year three serious attacks were thwarted that were on the verge of being carried out," the Shin Bet head said. He also accused Tehran of helping Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meanwhile said on Friday the Islamic Republic would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran's oil exports. "Threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America....  Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course.... In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time," Khamenei told worshippers in a speech broadcast live on state television. The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Khameini as saying that war threats would "disfavour the US itself; the war would be ten times against interests of the US itself,” said the Supreme Leader. "I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime [Israel]." On Thursday, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said in an interview that he was concerned that "certain" countries" would take the Iran nuclear issue into their own hands, refusing to say whether or not Britain would "participate" the military conflict that could ensure as a result from such a move. Clegg was quoted as telling The House Magazine, a weekly British political journal, that he feared Israel could carry out a pre-emptive strike on Iran amid suspicion in the West that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. Tensions have been heightened over Iran’s intentions, leading UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to warn Israel that the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme must be resolved peacefully. Last week, the European Union agreed to tougher sanctions, including an embargo on Iranian oil imports.