Imagine turning on your television and watching the destruction of Israel live on your screen. On Friday, Iranian state TV ran a featured hypothetical documentary that dramatized the bombing of Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Dimona nuclear reactor, and Ben Gurion Airport by Iranian missiles and drones. The documentary served as a warning for any possible American or Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Entitled “The Nightmare of Vultures,” the documentary uses dramatic music to highlight Iranian rhetoric and threats to wipe Israel off the map. The program simulated attacks on the USS Abraham Lincoln as well as American military targets located in the Persian Gulf. In Israel, strikes against Tel Aviv’s Kikar Hamedina square, the Azrieli Tower skyscrapers, Haifa’s Technion, and the IDF’s Kiriya central command compound are among some of the many targets depicted as being destroyed.
The film opens with a speech from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khemenei addressing military cadets in 2011, warning the world against the might of Iran.“Anybody who thinks of attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran should be prepared to receive strong slaps and iron fists from the Armed Forces,” Khamenei said. “And America, its regional puppets and its guard dog – the Zionist regime – should know that the response of the Iranian nation to any kind of aggression, attacks or even threats will be a response that will make them collapse from within.”
As air raid sirens wail in the background, Israeli emergency responders are shown in a state of chaos as Iranian missiles rain down on unsuspecting civilians. After attacking Israel, the film shifts to anti-American rhetoric and images of U.S. leaders. An attack on the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln sailing in the Strait of Hormuz is portrayed and American military targets across the Persian Gulf.
The short documentary comes at a time when Iranian anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric has increased. On Saturday, Iran announced that it has ordered some of its warships to the North Atlantic, very close to U.S. maritime borders.
Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, commander of Iran’s Northern Navy Fleet, told the IRNA news agency that “Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message.”
An anonymous official from the U.S. government told Reuters that Iranian “ships are free to operate in international waters” but was confident that Iran would not be so foolish as to provoke an attack from the U.S. by coming close to its borders.
