The chief of staff of Iran's armed forces said on Saturday that his country's potential enemies refrain from attacking because they know that an Iranian response would stretch outside the country's borders, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.

Speaking at an air base in Tehran, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said regarding would-be aggressors: "If they decide to launch war, certainly they will not decide about the time and place for its end. Certainly, they will not be able to keep this war contained to the Islamic Republic of Iran and they will not even be the decision-maker with regard to the priority of battle at Iran's borders; this will be the Islamic Republic of Iran's power that will dictate these issues to them."

Bagheri added that his country's enemies knew that attacking the country on land would end in Iranian victory, Fars reported, and that any war with the Islamic republic would come at a high price.

A week ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Iran's increasing involvement in Syria constituted a threat to Israel, the Middle East and the entire world.

"We cannot forget the fact that every day, Iran threatens to destroy Israel," he said in Sochi, Russia. Following their meeting, Netanyahu said that he emphasized to Putin that they must act to remove Iranian troops, Hezbollah militants and Shiite militias from Syria to prevent a regional war in the future.