A war with Israel is practically inevitable, Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Saturday. At a meeting of the top echelon of the Revolutionary Guards, which Jafari commands, the general said that “the shameful and cancerous tumour that is Israel is seeking war against us, but it is not known when that war will happen. They now consider war as the only way to confront us, but they are so stupid that their (US) masters should stop them.”

Jafari was quite emphatic that a war was nearly inevitable. “This (war) will eventually happen as the (Islamic) revolution is moving rapidly towards its goals, and they cannot tolerate this,” Jafari was quoted as saying by Iranian media. “And finally, they will impose a war situation. Even if they (the Israelis) act rationally, this incident will happen.”

The comments were the first time Iran has acknowledged the probability of open armed conflict with Israel. Previously, it has dismissed such a scenario as bluff on the part of Israel’s leaders.

“Everyone knows that they cannot confront the power of the Islamic republic,” he added. “But there is no guarantee of rationality, and it is possible that they will go crazy” and attack, he said.