Israeli air force bases hosting advanced warplanes should be the target for Iran and its proxies to attack, a conservative newspaper in Iran said on Monday.

Khorassan newspaper carried an article by Hamed Rahimpur arguing that Israel seems eager to go after valuable targets affiliated with Iran and its allies and therefore, the Tehran needs to establish deterrence and pose a credible threat. 

In recent weeks, Israel is suspected of targeted airstrikes that have killed several high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officers and top operatives of Iran’s ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas.

The successful campaign has put the Iranian regime in an awkward position of either tolerating the Israeli attacks or retaliate and risk a wider war. Iranian officials have been saying that one aim of the Israeli campaign is to draw Iran into a war, and this should be avoided.

"When an enemy makes a final decision to eliminate someone, sooner or later, they will act on their decision,” the article said and continued that the key issue is to be able to change the enemy’s calculus in predicting Iran’s response.

Khorassan newspaper suggested that Iran or its proxies should focus on attacking Israeli airbases hosting the F-35 advanced fighters to present a credible deterrence to further attacks on their valuable assets. The newspaper mentioned bases in Eilat, where it said Iran’s proxies have tested the feasibility of strikes, presumable with missiles.

Iranian-backed militia last week retaliated against a US base in Iraq after five of its IRGC officers were killed in an airstrike in Damascus, Syria.