Major General Hossein Salami also claimed that the U.S.’ declining power means military action is no longer a viable option for it.

In response to recent warnings issued by Mossad Director David Barnea, Major General Hossein Salami, the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, issued a stern threat to Israel, cautioning that any threat to Iran’s security would bring a prompt end to Israel’s existence.

“The Zionists find themselves grappling with numerous challenges, and their decline is apparent to the world. Their resort to empty rhetoric and threats against our commanders signify their desperate state,” Salami said on state-affiliated media, according to a translation by The Times of Israel.

Israel’s “life would be cut short” if Iran’s security was challenged in any way.

His inflammatory remarks come on the heels of Barnea’s warning to Iran last Sunday. The Mossad director noted an uptick in state-organized Iranian terror operations globally, emphasizing that the orchestrations were following a directive from the Iranian leadership. Barnea cautioned that if these operations resulted in harm to Israelis or Jews, the repercussions would target the “highest echelon” of Iran’s leadership.

Salami also reflected on the United States’ declining power, citing its recent military engagements in Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq as evidence that military options were no longer viable for the country. He further noted the US’s waning support for Israel, linking it to a reluctance, perceived to some extent as unwillingness, to fully back the “Zionist regime”.

During his speech at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy’s conference at Reichman University in Herzliya earlier this week, Barnea said Israel was increasingly worried about Russia’s sale of advanced weapons to Iran, saying it could “threaten our existence.” He also disclosed that the intelligence agency had successfully thwarted 27 Iranian attacks targeting Jews and Israelis overseas in the past year.