Tehran, August 31 (RHC)-- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has fired back at “warmonger” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for threatening Iran with “atomic annihilation” right from the regime’s secretive atomic weapons facility.

Speaking during a ceremony at the Dimona nuclear arms facility in the Negev desert, Netanyahu had claimed that the occupying entity faces threats from near and far.  Netanyahu said: "Those who threaten to wipe us out put themselves in a similar danger, and in any event will not achieve their goal.  But our enemies know very well what Israel is capable of doing. They are familiar with our policy.  Whoever tries to hurt us, we hurt them.” 

Hours later, Zarif took to Twitter to respond to the hawkish Israeli premier’s highly aggressive threat, which came on the same day that the world nations were observing the International Day against Nuclear Tests.

“Iran, a country without nuclear weapons, is threatened with atomic annihilation by a warmonger standing next to an actual nuclear weapons factory,” tweeted the top Iranian diplomat, describing Netanyahu’s statements as “beyond shameless.”

Israel is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, but its policy is to neither confirm nor deny that it has atomic bombs.  The Tel Aviv regime is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.

Unlike Iran, the regime has refused to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- whose aim is to prevent the spread of nuclear arms and weapons technology – in defiance of international pressure.

Marking the International Day against Nuclear Tests, Foreign Minister Zarif had earlier in the day slammed the Israeli regime and its stalwart supporter, the United States, as the sole possessor of nuclear bombs in the region and the “sole user” of atomic weapons in the world, respectively.