Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Monday that Iran must understand that it will pay the price for its terrorist activities and threatening Israelis around the globe.
“The problem with Iran is that it is the number one terrorist propagandist in the world because both Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad are under its responsibility and threaten Israelis all over the world,” Lapid told Israel’s Army Radio.
Israel's National Security Council also warned its citizens against travel to Turkey Monday, citing Iranian threats of revenge for the assassination last week of Revolutionary Guard colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei.
Tehran has blamed Israel and vowed revenge for the killing of an officer of IRGC’ Quds Force -- responsible for operations outside Iran’s borders -- who was shot dead at the wheel of his car by two people on a motorcycle.
Earlier on Monday, Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, alleged that Israel was behind the assassination, vowing avenge for the assassination.
Iran’s Fars news agency affiliated with the IRGC published an article on Sunday profiling several Israeli businesspeople and implicitly threatening them and their families.
Lapid also said Israel is coordinating with the United States and Persian Gulf States to normalize its relations with Saudi Arabia, adding, “We believe that it is possible to have a normalization process with Saudi Arabia. It’s in our interest.”
Jerusalem and Riyadh have no official diplomatic ties, but relations have warmed in recent years, apparently against Iranian influence in the region.
On Thursday, the head of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Ram Ben Barak denied the country took responsibility for Sunday’s killing, following a leak to The New York Times about the assassination.