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A MILITARY truck carrying a missile and a picture of Irans leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei drives in a parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war in Tehran. (photo credit:REUTERS)

"Only seven minutes is needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv," senior member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and former Revolutionary Guard official, Majtaba Zonour, told semi-official Fars News Agency Saturday.

His comments follow days of heated exchanges between US and Iranian officials.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have intensified after the Trump administration announced new sanctions targeting Irans ballistic-missile program.

The US issued the new penalties in response to several Iranian missile launches that international powers say are in violation of Irans obligations.

Irans officials vowed to continue launching roaring missiles, which they characterized as defensive in nature.

And they targeted US President Donald Trump himself calling him reckless and inexperienced.

Trump said on Twitter that Iran was playing with fire. And, in a statement, US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said Irans belligerent and lawless behavior across the Middle East had only increased since it agreed to a deal with six foreign nations meant to govern its nuclear program for more than a decade.

Iran last Saturday condemned the US visa ban against Tehran and six other majority-Muslim countries as an "open affront against the Muslim world and the Iranian nation" and vowed to retaliate.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Iran: 'Only seven minutes needed for the Iranian missile to hit Tel ... - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Iran announced Sunday that it has lifted its ban on U.S. wrestlers from attending the freestyle World Cup later this month in the Iranian city of Kermanshah -- a retaliatory move announced Friday, in response to President Donald Trump's executive order forbidding visas for Iranians.

"Following the court ruling suspending #MuslimBan & the requests from Iranian Wrestling Federation & FILA, US Wrestlers' visa will be granted," tweeted Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's minister of foreign affairs.

Iranian news agency IRNA on Friday quoted the country's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying a special committee reviewed the case of the U.S. team for the tournament, and "eventually the visit ... was opposed." The competition is set for Feb. 16-17.

Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, the sport's governing body in the U.S., had said in a statement last week, "We don't think politics [should] have any role in this. But, unfortunately, sometimes you can't control that."

ABC News' Marcus Wilford contributed to this report.

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Iran Lifts Ban Preventing US Wrestlers From Attending Tournament - ABC News

Will Trump's Next Iran Sanctions Target China's Banks? Forbes Friday, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned individuals and companies in three networks for procuring technology and/or materials to support Iran's ballistic missile program. The measures are partly in reaction to Iran's ... and more »

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Will Trump's Next Iran Sanctions Target China's Banks? - Forbes

Travel bans, missile tests, sanctions and insults have been ping-ponged in a provocative show of force by both sides. It all raises concerns over the future of a deal, brokered by the Obama administration, that requires Iran to heavily restrict its nuclear program.

Iran threatens reciprocal measures through legal, consular and diplomatic actions.

January 29: Iran conducts a ballistic missile test, the first such test since Trump took office.

Iran establishes a committee to deal with the US travel ban. The committee is tasked with issuing directives to Iranian embassies worldwide, aimed at "upholding the dignity of Iranians outside of the country, especially those in the United States," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi says.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweets that he will discuss the renewal of sanctions against Iran with Trump. Netanyahu is due to visit the White House on February 15.

"It cannot be that Iranian aggression will remain without an answer," Netanyahu says, adding he has ways of "undoing" the Iran nuclear accord.

January 31: UN Security Council holds talks on the missile test.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the US is "well aware of and deeply troubled by Iran's longstanding provocative and irresponsible activities."

Iran suggests Trump is trying to detract attention from a fallout over the travel ban.

Iran's Foreign Ministry says it will mull whether to allow the US wrestling team to enter the country for the World Cup.

Iran's defense minister, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan, officially confirms the missile test, even though other officials have previously commented on it.

February 2: Trump says, "Nothing's off the table," when asked if he might respond to the missile test with military action.

Sources tell CNN that the White House is expected to impose additional sanctions on Iranian entities.

In response, Iran's Foreign Ministry says it will implement legal measures against Americans and US companies that have played a part in "creating and helping extremist terrorist groups in the region."

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How Iran-US relations plummeted in a week - CNN

Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran's first vice president, dismissed the remarks from Mattis as "useless claims," saying that Iran had been instrumental in the fight against ISIS, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA.

"The Iranian government and nation do not care in the least for the worn-out and threadbare remarks made by the American officials," Jahangiri said.

Mattis said Iran's "misconduct and misbehavior" would have to be addressed.

"We have a responsibility with the rest of the nations to be absolutely clear with Iran in this regard. It does no good to ignore it. It does no good to dismiss it," Mattis said in Tokyo, where he met with his Japanese counterpart to discuss security issues.

But he said the recent tensions with Iran did not warrant an increase in the number of US forces in the Middle East.

"We always have the capability to do so, but at this time I don't think it's necessary," he said.

As Mattis made his comments Saturday, Iran's air force was conducting military drills, including missile systems, radar and electronic warfare command and control exercises, in the northern Semnan province, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

These drills are aimed at "showing strength, intelligence and readiness for all-round defense against any threat" and are being done "in contempt of sanctions and threats," the report said.

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force spoke Saturday on drill sidelines.

"I'd say with confidence that foreign threats against the Islamic Establishment (of Iran) are futile," said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, quoted by the Tasnim News Agency.

He said US outcry over Iranian missile tests is a pretext for expressing hostility toward Iran.

"Should the enemy make a mistake, our roaring missiles will rain down on them," Hajizadeh said.

On Friday, the US Treasury Department said it was applying sanctions on 25 individuals and companies connected to Iran's ballistic missile program and those providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. That included three separate networks linked to supporting the missile program, which the United States opposes.

Trump tweeted Friday that Iran was "playing with fire" and he would not be as "kind" to Tehran as former President Barack Obama.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday it too would ensure "legal restrictions" were imposed on the "American individuals and companies which have a role in aiding extremist and terrorist groups or contribute to the suppression and murder of the defenseless people in the region," IRNA reported.

Trump has been a longtime critic of the accord, which was brokered after two years of talks with the five members of the UN Security Council and Germany in 2015.

Nasser Hadian, a professor of international relations at Tehran University, told CNN this week it was unlikely the Trump administration would tear up the agreement.

Abandoning the accord "would serve hard-line interests in Iran," he said.

CNN's Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.

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