Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.

Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran’s enemies, “especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime.” The supreme leader’s forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahid was quoted by state media as saying “the armed forces of the Islamic republic will powerfully respond to any aggression and threat... Any (action) by the usurper regime (of Israel) will spell its demise.”

A day earlier, armed forces deputy chief Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri also predicted Israel’s “destruction” if it attacks and warned: “Our response would not be limited to the Middle East. Iran is not a nation to sit still and just observe threats from fragile materialist powers which are being eaten by worms from inside,” Khamenei was quoted as telling the military cadets on Thursday.

“Anyone who harbors any thought of invading the Islamic Republic of Iran — or even if the thought crosses their mind — should be prepared to receive strong blows and the steel fists of the military, the (Revolutionary) Guards, and the Basij (militia), or in other words the Iranian nation,” he said.

Iran’s Parliament speaker Ali Larijani reinforced the message, warning Western governments they “risk breaking their neck if they play certain games,” the state television website reported.

Meanwhile, Russia and China, both permanent UN Security Council members with veto power, agree that Iran should not be subjected to new sanctions over its nuclear program, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

At a meeting in Moscow, Russian and Chinese diplomats expressed “the mutual conviction that the application of new, additional sanctions against Iran will not lead to the desired result,” the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s nuclear chief said Iran would like more Russian-built nuclear reactors following the launch of its first that began producing electricity in September.