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The Zionist regime of Israel will not exist in 25 years, the Commander of the Iranian army, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Friday.

Speaking at a cultural event in the city of Qom and quoted by the Tasnim news agency, Mousavi stated that Iran will be the side which decides how to end a war, if one were to break out against the country.

Mousavi described Iran as a “symbol of resistance” against global hegemony, saying the world has now realized that it is impossible to try military engagement with Iran.

The Iranian general is hardly the only Iranian official to have threatened Israel. In December, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that Israel could be destroyed within 25 years through a united “Palestinian struggle”.

“The Zionist regime -- as we have already said -- will cease to exist in the next 25 years if there is a collective and united struggle by the Palestinians and the Muslims against the Zionists,” he said.

Khamenei has in the past referred to Israel as a “cancer” and has also threatened to "annihilate" the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

A month before his comments, a senior Iranian military commander predicted that Palestinian Arabs would “get rid of Israel” in the next 10 years.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)