Major General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), stood in front of a large banner in his operations room and used his telephone to order the launch of about 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel. Tuesday night, according to a video clip released by Iranian media.
The banner said Iran was seeking to retaliate with a major attack and featured photos of the three men who were killed. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in July in an attack that Iran blamed on Israel. IRGC Quds Force operational commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last week.
The Revolutionary Guards said the barrage included Fattah hypersonic missiles that took 12 minutes to reach Israel and hit targets such as three Israeli air bases and the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency. He claimed to have succeeded in doing so.
However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said most of the missiles were “intercepted by Israel and the US-led defense coalition” and that there were “a small number of hits” in south-central Israel.
Immediately after the attack, a huge banner was hung in Tehran’s Palestine Square depicting a missile flying towards a Star of David-shaped building and the words “The beginning of the end of Zionism.”
After Haniya’s assassination, Iran appeared to show restraint, but Israel delivered a series of devastating blows to Hezbollah, Iran’s closest and longest-standing regional ally, culminating in Friday’s airstrike. This inaction became a source of humiliation when Nasrullah and Nilforushan were murdered.
Since the Revolutionary Guards helped establish Hezbollah in the 1980s, Iranian weapons, training, and funding have been crucial in Hezbollah’s transformation into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political entity.
Iranian leaders had hoped before this month that a war of attrition with Hezbollah would lead to the exhaustion of Israeli forces, which continue to fight Hamas in Gaza.
They also relied on Hezbollah and its massive rocket and missile arsenal as the primary deterrent against direct Israeli attack on their nuclear and missile facilities.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, elected in July, accused Israel of provoking Iran into a regional war that would also involve the United States.
“We also want security and peace. It was Israel that assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran,” he said during a visit to Qatar on Wednesday, Iranian media reported.
“Europe and the United States said that if we did not act, there would be peace in Gaza within a week. We were waiting for them to be at peace, but they increased the killings. Ta.”
Many hardline conservatives in Iran were growing concerned about the country’s lack of action against Israel.
Several commentators on state television (controlled by Supreme Leader Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards) said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attacked Iran’s interests and allies in Lebanon over its decision not to avenge Haniyeh’s killing. He claimed to have been encouraged to do so. .
After Tuesday’s missile attack, Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Baqeri said the time for “patience and restraint” was over.
“We targeted Israel’s military and intelligence facilities and deliberately refrained from attacking its economic and industrial hubs,” he said. “But if Israel retaliates, our response will be stronger.”
The missile strikes suggest that remaining silent after an Israeli attack would make Iran look weak and vulnerable both domestically and in the eyes of its regional allies in the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including Hezbollah and Hamas. It reflects growing concerns among Iranian leaders.
Iran and Israel adhere to a “no war, no peace” policy and have pursued a shadow war for decades. However, this status quo now appears to be coming to an end.
Israel has promised a tough response, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning: “Iran made a big mistake. Iran will pay the price.”
There are also signs that the US tone and strategy are changing.
In April, Iran launched most of the 300 drones and missiles toward Israel in retaliation for an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed several Iranian Revolutionary Guards leaders. President Joe Biden called for restraint after the unit was shot down. Israel heeded the US call and fired missiles to hit Iranian air defense batteries in central Iran.
But now Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has warned that an attack on Iran would have “serious consequences” and said the US would “work with Israel to do so.” .
Israeli media on Wednesday cited Israeli officials as saying that Israel was preparing to launch retaliatory strikes against Iran “within the next few days,” targeting “strategic locations” including the country’s key oil facilities. I was told that he said it would be.
Officials also warned that Iran’s nuclear facilities would come under attack if Iran carried out its threat of counterattack against Israel.
Iranian officials have claimed that they believe the retaliation for the killings of Haniyeh, Nasrallah and Nilforoushan is over unless provoked further.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said he had sent a message through the Swiss embassy in Tehran warning the United States “not to intervene.”
He warned that “third countries that support Israel or allow Iran the use of their airspace will be considered legitimate targets.”
The United States has about 40,000 troops in the Middle East, many of them in Iraq and Syria. These forces could be threatened by Iranian-backed Shiite militias in both countries.
Iran must now prepare for an Israeli response and hope its gamble pays off.