Esmail Ghaani
Esmail GhaaniReuters

Iran will harshly confront Israel "wherever it feels necessary", Esmail Ghaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

"Wherever we identify a Zionist threat, we will harshly confront them, they are too small to confront us," he said.

The commander pledged to support any group that fights the "Zionist regime" and added that "the destruction of this regime is gaining ground."

Ghaani was named in 2020 as the replacement for Qassem Soleimani, who was eliminated in a US drone strike outside of Baghdad’s airport in Iraq.

He has threatened Israel in the past, saying in November of 2020 that “the end of Israel is approaching” after Iran accused Israel of eliminating nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

In March, Tehran targeted what it called "secret Israeli bases" during a missile attack on Iraq's northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later threatened to hit "Zionist bases" in Iraq if Iraqi officials do not take action to remove those bases.