Iran’s top military commanders on Thursday spoke of a forceful response to an Israeli air strikes over the weekend as rhetoric around retaliation appears to have stiffened in recent days.
“You made yet another mistake and you’ll suffer. (Our response) will be unimaginable,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami said, referring to Israel’s attack last week.
Remarks by his deputy Ali Fadavi were yet harsher: “We can target everything the Israelis have in one operation,” he said, calling Iran's response "a certainty".
The near-simultaneous warnings by Iran’s two most senior IRGC commanders came as US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke of some progress in talks for a ceasefire agreement between Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel.
An agreement would see the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces replace Iran’s strongest regional ally Hezbollah.
Iranian officials are yet to comment on the prospect of such an agreement. But the mood in Tehran was telegraphed in the form of a message by IRGC foreign operations commander Esmail Qaani to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem to congratulate him on his appointment as the group’s new secretary general.
“Your brothers in the Quds Force will stay by Hezbollah’s side until the evil tree of Zionism is uprooted and removed and Palestine and Jerusalem are liberated,” Qaani’s message read, according to Iran’s state-affiliated media.
The most senior cleric in the Supreme Leader’s office Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani also weighed in with menacing comments.
“Israel's recent attack on our country was a desperate action that will be met by a harsh and punishing response,” he said.
Reports on US media late on Thursday appeared to corroborate the messaging from Tehran.
The New York Times quoted three Iranian officials saying supreme leader Ali Khamenei has instructed the country’s Supreme National Security Council to prepare for a retaliatory attack on Israel.
Axios cited Israeli intelligence sources saying an Iranian attack may take place even before the US presidential election on November 5.
That attack, according to Axios, could be carried out from Iraqi territory and with help from Iran’s allied armed groups in that country.