Military: All of Israel within Iran's missiles reach

 Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi  A senior Iranian military official describes missile shields deployed in the region to protect Tel Aviv as “inadequate”, saying all of Israel is within the Iran's missiles reach .
“These missile shields which they have deployed in Turkey, occupied Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates cannot hit all our missiles,” Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, who is also senior military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday.
“They may hit some of our missiles, but the number of our missiles is so large that they will not be able to target our missiles,” ISNA quoted Rahim-Safavi as saying.
The Iranian commander added that all of Israel is within Iran's missile reach.
Referring to Israel's recent threats against Iran, Rahim-Safavi said Israelis are well-aware that if they begin a war, they will be attacked from Iran, southern Lebanon and by Hamas.
In past weeks the Israel has renewed its aggressive rhetoric against Iran. On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened that "time has come" to deal with Iran.
“People understand now that Iran is determined to reach nuclear weapons… And that should be stopped,” Barak claimed.
Israeli President Shimon Peres threatened on Nov. 6 that an attack against Iran is becoming "more and more likely."
Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.
In support of Tehran, China's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it opposed unilateral sanctions against Iran,days after several Western countries announced new measures to halt its nuclear programme. The United States, Britain and Canada announced new measures against Iran's energy and financial sectors on Monday and France proposed "unprecedented" new sanctions, including freezing the assets of its central bank and suspending purchases of its oil.
"China is always against unilateral sanctions against Iran and is even more opposed to the expansion of such sanctions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters at a regular press briefing, reiterating the need for negotiations.
"We believe pressure and sanctions will not fundamentally solve the Iranian issue, but will complicate the issue. Intensifying confrontation is not conducive to the region's peace and stability," Liu said.
President Barack Obama’s top national security aide said early Wednesday a U.S.-led drive to isolate Iran had slowed its nuclear programme and that there was still “time, space and means” to persuade Tehran to abandon atomic weapons ambitions.
“The effect of these sanctions has been clear,” Donilon said. “Coupled with mistakes and difficulties in Iran, they have slowed Iran's nuclear efforts ... Not only is it harder for Iran to proceed, it is more expensive.”
Iran has dismissed the new wave of sanctions, saying the West's attempts to isolate its economy would only serve to unite Iranians behind their government's nuclear programme.
The latest sanctions were prompted by a U.N. nuclear agency report that suggested Iran had worked on an atomic bomb design. Tehran maintains its work is entirely peaceful and said the report was based on false Western intelligence.
But the series of unilateral steps were meant to pressure Iran to suspend the nuclear programme before it gets the bomb. Israel and Washington say they do not rule out military strikes if other efforts fail.
While the West has been reluctant to deal too harshly with one of the world’s biggest oil producers because of the risk to world markets, Donilon said: “We are certainly not ruling out additional steps against Iran’s banking sector, including the central bank.”
He said Washington remained resolute. “Put simply, the Iranian regime has not yet fundamentally altered its behavior, but we have succeeded in slowing its nuclear programme,” he said.
Critics of the sanctions said they would fail to stop Iran's nuclear work and would play into the hands of a government that wears its hostility to Washington as a badge of pride.
The moves by the Western governments came outside of the United Nations, where Russia and China - both permanent U.N. Security Council members with veto power - agree that Iran should not be subjected to sanctions.
Russia called the U.S. moves "unacceptable.
China, which has kept close ties with Iran, has backed past U.N. Security Council resolutions criticising Iran's position on nuclear issues and authorising limited sanctions.
But Beijing has repeatedly resisted Western proposals for sanctions that could seriously curtail its energy and economic ties with Iran, China's third-largest crude oil supplier.
It has said Chinese firms will business dealings with Iran should not be targeted.
Iran shipped 20.3 million tons of crude oil in the first nine months of the year, up by almost a third on the same period last year, according to Chinese data.
Meanwhile, ex-Senator and former US presidential candidate Mike Gravel condemned Israeli lies about Iran's nuclear activities, and warned Tel Aviv and the US that threatening Iran means playing with fire.
Gravel underlined that beating the drums about attacking Iran is very dangerous and marks the irresponsibility of the Israeli leadership.
"Iran is neither Syria nor Lebanon. Iran is a proud nation and they have missile capabilities - not nuclear-capable - that can rain down on Tel Aviv. I can tell you: if they are attacked - they would attack back. And (because) Israel is so vulnerable and so small that it (Israel) would retaliate with nukes - because they cannot suffer to be destroyed," Gravel predicted, adding that Pakistan and China would join in, with the US to follow - and that is a ready scenario for a nuclear WWIII.
"The best way to solve the problem with Iran is to leave it alone to build a democracy of its own."