Reply #21: I would be skeptical about that.

[bemildred]

There are other things that are of that nature, but since I don't want to start a contentious sub-thread, I won't try to go into that here.

I consider this is more in the nature of school-yard bluster between Israel and Iran. You might say that both sides are afraid that the other side is not afraid of them. It's cognate with the constant stream of aggressive bluster coming from the US government now that it's position has been weakened by Iraq. The more we are entangled in that mess, the more bizarre the threats and demands get. Like a lizard on a rock trying to make himself look as big as possible. Hiz'bullah and Hamas are prone to spout all sorts of drool also, just like Israel and Iran, or like the US and the USSR back in the old days.