Iranian officials are signaling this week that their promised retaliatory attack on Israel may not be imminent, The Washington Post reported.
Following Israel’s elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran vowed to punish Israel. However, on Wednesday, the Iranian mission to the United Nations stated that a response “must be carefully calibrated” to avoid a possible ceasefire in Gaza.
“Perhaps when their eyes are fixed on the skies and their radar screens, they will be taken by surprise from the ground — or perhaps even by a combination of both,” the mission said in its statement. “The timing, conditions, and manner of Iran’s response will be meticulously orchestrated to ensure that it occurs at a moment of maximum surprise.”
A day earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson said, “time is at our disposal. The waiting period for this response could be long.”
The talk about a “possible ceasefire in Gaza” is a cover for Iran’s fear of sparking an all-out war with Israel, especially as it deals with growing domestic discontent amid a faltering economy.
“Their dilemma is that they don’t know how to respond without starting a war,” said Gregory Brew, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group, adding that “doing something that everyone sees as symbolic doesn’t solve the problem of restoring deterrence with Israel.”
According to another Washington Post report, one way Iran is trying to “punish” Israel without sparking an all-out war is its customary cowardly behavior of hiding behind in its proxies – in this case by pushing its proxy Hezbollah to attack.
US officials believe that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has backtracked from his vow to fire at Tel Aviv, which would trigger a massive Israeli retaliation.
However, he remains determined to avenge Israel’s elimination of Hezbollah command Fuad Shukr and as the report says, “he has many Israeli targets to choose from.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Just nuke them already.
Imagine if the Taliban has decided to make a massive attack instead of waiting for the United States to betray their Afghani allies and gift the country. Harris has a history of being anti-Israel, and Trump is running on a platform of not getting involved in foreign wars. The Iranians expect that on Jan. 21 the United States will recognize the Palestinian state “from the river to the sea”. They may be wrong, but they are only reading what the American press and media are saying.
“Harris has a history of being anti-Israel,”
That is a lie.
“and Trump is running on a platform of not getting involved in foreign wars.”
That is basically true. And a huge fraction of his support would vanish would he endorse military action to protect Israel.
“The Iranians expect that on Jan. 21 the United States will recognize the Palestinian state “from the river to the sea”.”
The Iranians aren’t that stupid. They know that neither Trump nor Harris nor Kennedy would do that. The Harris campaign just massively pissed off a Muslim-American Women for Harris-Walz group by denying a Palestinian-American a slot to speak at the Democratic National Convention. That group disbanded and announced it is no longer supporting Harris.
Republicans are responsible for giving Gaza to Hamas, Lebanon to Hezbollah, Syria to Assad and Yemen to the Houthis. But they’re never criticized for this because all Pro-Israel activism is beholden to Republican propaganda.