Iran said threatening ‘definitive, painful’ response to Israel, likely before US election
Iran will deliver a “definitive and painful” response to Israel’s recent attack on its territory, likely before the US presidential election on November 5, CNN reported Wednesday, citing an anonymous senior source.
The source, apparently an Iranian with knowledge of deliberations in Tehran, told the network: “The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Zionist regime’s aggression will be definitive and painful.”
The series of Israeli strikes early Saturday morning were themselves a response to a massive ballistic missile attack launched by Tehran at Israel on October 1. In an hours-long operation, dozens of Israeli aircraft targeted strategic military sites across Iran — specifically drone and ballistic missile manufacturing and launch sites, as well as air defense batteries — with explosions reported in the areas of Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Shiraz.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated the US position Wednesday that Iran should not respond to Israel’s strikes.
“If they do, we will support Israel in defending itself, but they should not,” she said at a news briefing.
At his own press briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller said he would not offer an assessment “as to what [Iran] may or may not do, but we believe that they should not respond.”
Miller said the Israeli strikes were “an appropriate response by the government of Israel to an unprecedented attack by Iran, but this should be the end of it.”
While declining to comment on any communication there may have been between Washington and Tehran, Miller said the US has “made clear publicly — and I can tell you that Iran knows this message quite clearly — they should not in any way continue to escalate this conflict.”
The US, which helped Israel defend itself against the Iranian rocket barrage and a similar assault from Iran in April, has deployed an advanced air defense system to Israel as a precaution against further Iranian assaults.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iranian military facilities came weeks after Iran launched 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, sending most of the population rushing to bomb shelters and safe rooms, while causing relatively minor damage to military bases and some residential areas, and killing a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
The Israeli strikes were the country’s largest-ever direct assault on the Islamic Republic, following the Iranian attacks on Israel which were themselves unprecedented. Israel has been expecting a potential Iranian response to the strike, but has warned Tehran that any further attacks on its territory will be met with resolute action.
Israel is widely reported to have crippled Iran’s air defenses during the assault, and has indicated that this could serve as preparation for more damaging strikes should Iran not halt its attacks.
US President Joe Biden’s senior Mideast adviser Amos Hochstein has been cited as saying on an internal call that “Iran is essentially naked” and vulnerable to potential future aerial attacks.
On Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that if Iran “makes the mistake of launching another barrage of missiles at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran.”
Israel’s response to such an attack would “hit extremely hard — both the capabilities and the places that we spared this time,” he said.
Iran has attempted to downplay the damage caused by the attacks, and on Sunday, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that it “should neither be exaggerated nor minimized.”
But recent days have seen officials use increasingly belligerent rhetoric and vowing revenge for Israel’s actions.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hossein Salami claimed that Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” but nevertheless said that the “bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghei warned that Tehran would use “all available tools” to respond.
Source » timesofisrael.com
