Jerusalem, Sep. 4 (ANI): Iran’s controversial new Defence Minister Ahmad Vahid has warned Israel not to attack the country’s nuclear facilities.

“Every move from the Zionist entity against Iran will be met with a harsh and powerful response from Iran,” The Jerusalem Post quoted him, Vahidi saying.

Vahidi also said that the overwhelming support he had garnered in the parliamentary vote on his appointment “attested to the anti-Zionist spirit of the Iranian parliament and people.”

Vahidi is a wanted by Interpol for masterminding the Buenos Aires Jewish centre bomb blast in 1994 that claimed 85 lives.

Buenos Aires has called General Vahidi’s inclusion in Ahmadinejad’s new Cabinet “an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack”.

US President Barack Obama has termed Vahidi’s inclusion in the Cabinet as “disturbing”.

Vahidi gained support earlier this week when lawmakers said they would not bow to foreign pressures to reject him.

The chairman of the Iranian foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said the allegations “will not have any negative impact on the assessment” of General Vahidi’s suitability for the job.

“Rather, it may increase his vote,” he noted.

Ahmadinejad has faced questions about the experience and expertise of some of the choices for his 21-seat cabinet. But on Thursday, he managed to win approval for many key posts that included the foreign, interior, intelligence ministries and Ahmad Vahidi as defense minister.

The parliament also backed Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as health minister, making her the Islamic republic’s first female minister since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. (ANI)