ISRAEL THREATENS TO LAUNCH DIRECT ATTACK ON IRAN SHOULD THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC CARRY OUT AN ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL
Israel’s foreign minister today declared his nation’s armed forces would launch direct retaliatory strikes on Iran should the Islamic Republic carry out an attack against Israel – the latest step in escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Writing in both his native Hebrew and Farsi, Israel Katz said on X: ‘If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran.’
The blunt and threatening remark came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei early this morning reiterated a promise to ‘punish an ‘evil’ Israel following a suspected IDF strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed 12 people, including two top generals, on April 1.
Tehran held Israel responsible for the strike and immediately vowed to exact retribution.
Khamenei also criticised the West, particularly the US and Britain, for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
‘It was expected they (would) prevent (Israel) in this disaster. They did not. They did not fulfil their duties, the Western governments,’ he said.
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Israel has not acknowledged its involvement in the strike, but has been bracing for retaliation as it continues to battle Hamas and Hezbollah – both militant groups that are funded and supported by Iran.
Khamenei spoke this morning at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying the airstrike was ‘wrongdoing’ and akin to an attack on Iranian territory.
‘When they attacked our consulate area, it was like they attacked our territory,’ Khamenei said, in remarks broadcast by Iranian state TV.
‘The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished.’
Neither Katz nor the Ayatollah elaborated on the exact form such retaliation would take.
Among 12 killed in the blast on April 1 were seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, four Syrians and a Hezbollah militia member.
One of the slain generals, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, had held a succession of commands in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, over a career spanning more than four decades
His deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, was also killed.
The day after the attack, Khamenei, who attended the funeral ceremonies of the Iranian victims last week, declared: ‘The evil Zionist regime will be punished at the hands of our brave men.
‘We will make them regret this crime and the other ones.’
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Iran has been acting against Israel for years, and defended any operations launched by Tel-Aviv against Tehran.
‘For years Iran has been working against us directly and through its proxies, and therefore Israel is working against Iran and its proxies, both defensively and offensively,’ Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
‘We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us, we will hurt them,’ he said.