Tensions between Iran and Israel remained high on Thursday as Iran’s military leaders renewed their commitment to a crushing response to last month’s attack on Jerusalem, and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog scrambled to prevent nuclear escalation. There is.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi visited Iran this week and held high-level talks with Iranian officials, holding Iran accountable for its past nuclear safeguards commitments and clarifying its position on Iran’s nuclear program. The aim was to make it clear.
But despite international attempts to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Grossi issued a warning message to Israel, saying that Iran’s “nuclear facilities are They should not be attacked.”
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi (left) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian in Tehran, Iran, on May 6, 2024. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
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Grossi’s comments came at a Thursday press conference, where Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Iran is “more exposed than ever to (an) attack on its nuclear facilities.” That was three days later.
“We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal: deterring and eliminating existential threats to the State of Israel,” he added.
The White House has repeatedly warned Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the Biden administration is preparing to withdraw when President-elect Donald Trump takes back the Oval Office next January. Therefore, the official U.S. position regarding Israel’s attack options may change.
Grossi’s visit to Iran comes at a crucial geopolitical time, as the United States under the Trump administration is expected to take a tougher stance toward Iran, but it is unclear whether U.S. policy in the region will change. It remains unclear whether this will change.
As Israel considers a retaliatory strike, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies analyzed where Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is located. (Image provided by: Democracy Defense Foundation)
Iran appears undeterred by threats from President Trump and Israel, with senior government and military officials repeatedly saying it would retaliate in response to the Israeli attack in late October.
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In a meeting Thursday with the family of Major Sajjad Mansouri, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on October 26, Iranian military commander Maj. Gen. Sayyed Abdulrahim Mousavi promised a “devastating” blow to Israel.
“We will decide when and how to respond, and when the time comes, we will not hesitate. Our response will definitely be overwhelming,” he said, according to Tehran-based news agency Iran Front Page News. ”, echoing threats issued by the Iranian government. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said earlier this month that Iran’s government would respond with an “overwhelming response.”
Similarly, Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, said on Thursday that “the whole world will witness the complete collapse of the Zionist regime accomplishing the victory of justice over falsehood.” .
“This is God’s promise. The party of God will win and the party of evil will be defeated,” he added, according to the Iran International Press Agency.
Smoke rises over the southern outskirts of Beirut after an Israeli attack as hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces continue, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 14, 2024. (Reuters/Tayyer Al Sudani)
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Israel has stepped up attacks against Iranian-backed proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Syria.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday attacked militant strongholds in the capital Beirut and Damascus, attacking terrorist infrastructure and command centers, the IDF said.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said six people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment building in southern Beirut, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Residents of Beirut were said to have been advised to evacuate ahead of the airstrike, but it is unclear how many of the victims were terrorists or civilians.
Another 15 people were reportedly killed in Damascus and another 16 injured in the attack.
A man with luggage enters Syria on foot through a crater created by an Israeli airstrike aimed at blocking the Beirut-Damascus highway at the Masnaa crossing in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Saturday, October 5, 2024. people. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
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Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Larijani, will visit Damascus on Thursday and head a high-level delegation to Lebanon, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
The spokesperson said Larijani would “meet with senior Syrian officials, including the prime minister and the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, to discuss the latest developments in the region.”
It remains unclear whether he was in Damascus or Beirut at the time of the attack.
