The Iranian news agency “Fars” reported, citing an informed source, that “Israel is once again collaborating with terrorist groups in southeastern Iran to destabilize the country.”
The source added that “Israel has initiated security operations within Iran to prevent or mitigate Tehran’s response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.” He emphasized that “the entity’s efforts will not deter Iran from seeking revenge, and our decision to retaliate is irreversible.”
This past Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed his country’s determination to respond to the assassination of the elected Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. He stated that the response would be “decisive and calculated.”
During a phone call with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, Araghchi said that Tehran is not seeking to “escalate tensions” in the Middle East but does not fear doing so if necessary.
According to a statement from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Araghchi added that “a response to the terrorist act carried out by the Zionist entity in Tehran is inevitable.”
Araghchi emphasized that the response would be “decisive, calculated, and precise.”
A sense of anticipation is growing in Israeli circles, with expectations of a potential Iranian response following the assassination of the elected Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran at the end of July.
The Iranian minister’s comments come in the wake of a large-scale attack by Hezbollah on the Israeli occupation state, in retaliation for the assassination of a prominent military leader of the Lebanese party, Fuad Shukr, in an Israeli airstrike on southern Beirut last month.
Since Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran, Iran has vowed to respond forcefully against Israel. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that “this entity has also prepared for itself a severe punishment.”
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami, stated that “the enemy (Israel) will realize that it miscalculated (in assassinating Haniyeh) when it receives the decisive response,” noting that “the Zionist entity has created for itself a swamp of fire, and it will fall into the traps it has set.”
Israel, through its Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, emphasized that “Tel Aviv does not expect the U.S.-led coalition to merely repel an Iranian attack on Israel, but also to strike significant targets in Iran,” amid Israel’s heightened state of alert for a potential Iranian attack.
