Moran: "This Is Saber Rattling."

 Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) has equated Iran’s test-firing of nine missiles this week – including at least one with the range to reach Israel – with an earlier Israeli military exercise over the Mediterranean Sea.

His remarks were made this afternoon in an interview on the NewsChannel 8 show “NewsTalk.”

Asked by host Bruce DePuyt about his “reaction to the missile tests this week,” Moran said his reaction “is the same as my reaction to Israel’s provocative display about a week earlier.”

Last month, The New York Times reported that Israel carried out a military drill over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the exercise, but have expressed serious concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

“This is saber rattling, and I don’t think it’s responsible or productive for either party, and I don’t think we should be threatened,” Moran said. “We should all sit down and be more adult about this. Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Iran is very unlikely to attack Israel, there’s no one else in the region that they would have any reason to attack.”

“This is wrong and immature for Iran,” Moran said later, “it’s wrong and immature for the United States, and to some extent Israel to be engaging in this kind of counterproductive saber rattling.”
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