Iran agency retracts story on Israel revenge call

Fars is one of the few agencies to have regular access to hardline military units.

The report had quoted Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the Guards' commander-in-chief, as saying they and the volunteer Basij Islamic militia should prepare to take revenge on Israel and the United States.

"The Basij and Revolutionary Guards should prepare to get even with the Zionists and Americans," Rahim-Safavi said, according to the Fars report.

"The timing of the this will be announced by the leader," he added.

Fars later said these quotations should be retracted.

An Israeli air strike killed 54 civilians, including 37 children in the southern Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday, the bloodiest single attack since Israel's 19-day-old war against Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas began.

The Basij and the Revolutionary Guards are directly answerable to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Guards are historically close to Hizbollah and were deployed in south Lebanon during the 1980s. Mostafa Chamran, spiritual father of the Guards, forged his reputation fighting in Lebanon.

Although Iran funded and armed Hizbollah in the 1980s, it has more recently insisted that its support is primarily, moral and political.

However, many sources have insisted that Iranian arms are being used against Israeli civilian and military targets.

An Israeli military source has said an Iranian-made C802 radar-guided land-to-sea missile with a range of 60 miles (95 km) hit and badly damaged a ship during Israel's offensive against Lebanon.

Hizbollah said it fired "Raad (Thunder) 2" and "Raad 3" rockets at a rail depot in Haifa. Raad missiles are Iranian.

Israel's army said it destroyed an Iranian-made Zelzal missile with range of between 74 and 99 miles (120 and 160 kilometres) before it was launched.

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