Apparently Ahmadinejad calling for the “annihilation” of Israel this morning doesn’t count as saber rattling.

(Ynet) – Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi reacted to statements made by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney against Iran and said they were ‘saber rattling’ aimed at diverting the US public opinion from ‘the grave’ domestic issues, Iran’s PressTV reported.

At the same time the minister chose to ignore the fact that the US government has also increased sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Earlier this week, during his visit to Israel, Romney said the United States has “a solemn duty and a moral imperative” to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. “

Adding, “Make no mistake, the ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way. We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”

The Iranian defense minister criticized Romney’s statements and said: “The economic issue is one of the (most) important factors in the American people’s decisions to vote, while none of the US presidential candidates, neither Democratic nor Republican, have presented a solution yet to break the economic stalemate they have reached,” he added.