<p class="title">Under a clear blue sky in Tel Aviv, Nisan Katz vowed Monday he was "not afraid" of a threat by an Iranian official to turn the Israeli city "to dust".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The warning followed a war of words between Washington and Tehran, after the US assassinated top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If America takes any measure after our military response, we will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust," said Mohsen Rezai, who heads Iran's Expediency Council, a top state body.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Katz doubted Tehran would follow through with the threat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There shouldn't be any confrontation or war between Israel and Iran, we don't have a common border," he told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I am not afraid of the Iranian threat, Israel is much stronger, Iran will be the main loser."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rezai's threat against Israel, a key ally of Washington, comes after President Donald Trump said the US would hit dozens of Iranian sites if Tehran attacked American personnel or assets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But after years of warnings from Israel's arch-enemy, in Tel Aviv, an attack was seen as unlikely.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I assume they will not attack us because their business is mainly with the Americans," said Benny, who did not give his surname.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Although they've hated us for years, they have huge troubles. We have our defence abilities," he told AFP on the seafront.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a foreign visit and security chiefs held emergency talks after the killing of Soleimani.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Preparing for "a variety of scenarios" was advisable, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv said in a report released Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They include an "escalation of events up to a confrontation with the US, in which Israel could also be involved."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Orna Mizrahi, a senior research fellow at the institute, said she doubted Tel Aviv or Haifa would be the main targets of Iran's response.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A lot of the time they are talking about (how) they are going to destroy Israel... but they are very careful not to do it," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Attacking Israeli cities would represent "a great provocation which can cause a very large-scale military conflict with Israel. I don't think this is what they would like now."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the US military would "pay the price" for Soleimani's killing, but did not call for attacks on the group's foe Israel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The only just punishment is (to target) American military presence in the region," he said on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Israeli government has remained tight-lipped in recent days, with Netanyahu saying Friday that both Israel and the US have "the right of self-defense".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rachel Suissa, a research fellow at the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, said the silence over Rezai's threat was deliberate.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Israeli government is staying quiet to the threat as a calculated flexible strategic policy, depending not only on the American decision-making," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With world leaders calling for calm, in Tel Aviv Katz remained confident neither Washington nor Tehran would seek further conflict.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Personally, I think in war, there are only losers and eventually everybody will be smart, and nothing will happen," he said.</p>
<p class="title">Under a clear blue sky in Tel Aviv, Nisan Katz vowed Monday he was "not afraid" of a threat by an Iranian official to turn the Israeli city "to dust".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The warning followed a war of words between Washington and Tehran, after the US assassinated top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If America takes any measure after our military response, we will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust," said Mohsen Rezai, who heads Iran's Expediency Council, a top state body.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Katz doubted Tehran would follow through with the threat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There shouldn't be any confrontation or war between Israel and Iran, we don't have a common border," he told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I am not afraid of the Iranian threat, Israel is much stronger, Iran will be the main loser."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rezai's threat against Israel, a key ally of Washington, comes after President Donald Trump said the US would hit dozens of Iranian sites if Tehran attacked American personnel or assets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But after years of warnings from Israel's arch-enemy, in Tel Aviv, an attack was seen as unlikely.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I assume they will not attack us because their business is mainly with the Americans," said Benny, who did not give his surname.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Although they've hated us for years, they have huge troubles. We have our defence abilities," he told AFP on the seafront.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a foreign visit and security chiefs held emergency talks after the killing of Soleimani.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Preparing for "a variety of scenarios" was advisable, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv said in a report released Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They include an "escalation of events up to a confrontation with the US, in which Israel could also be involved."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Orna Mizrahi, a senior research fellow at the institute, said she doubted Tel Aviv or Haifa would be the main targets of Iran's response.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A lot of the time they are talking about (how) they are going to destroy Israel... but they are very careful not to do it," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Attacking Israeli cities would represent "a great provocation which can cause a very large-scale military conflict with Israel. I don't think this is what they would like now."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the US military would "pay the price" for Soleimani's killing, but did not call for attacks on the group's foe Israel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The only just punishment is (to target) American military presence in the region," he said on Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Israeli government has remained tight-lipped in recent days, with Netanyahu saying Friday that both Israel and the US have "the right of self-defense".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rachel Suissa, a research fellow at the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, said the silence over Rezai's threat was deliberate.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Israeli government is staying quiet to the threat as a calculated flexible strategic policy, depending not only on the American decision-making," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">With world leaders calling for calm, in Tel Aviv Katz remained confident neither Washington nor Tehran would seek further conflict.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Personally, I think in war, there are only losers and eventually everybody will be smart, and nothing will happen," he said.</p>