Iran’s supreme leader has ordered his military officials to prepare a reprisal attack against Israel, a report said Thursday, as senior Iranian officials warned of “harsh” and “unimaginable” responses to Israel’s strikes on Iranian military sites earlier this month.
The report in The New York Times, citing Iranian officials, said Tehran’s response would not come until after US voters go to the polls on November 5, though other news outlets have quoted sources saying Iran’s response could come ahead of the vote.
Iranian leaders have been threatening to carry out a reprisal action after the Israeli Air Force attacked anti-aircraft batteries and radar sites across Iran on October 26 in retaliation for a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1. But Iran has so far been seen as seeking to minimize the chances for escalation or a repeat engagement. The Times, citing three officials familiar with Tehran’s war planning, said Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had ordered plans drawn up by his Supreme National Security Council on Monday after being briefed on the extent of the damage from the Israeli strikes. According to the Times, Khamenei felt that the deaths and the scale of Israel’s attack necessitated a response to avoid being seen as admitting defeat. The report noted that Iranian military officials were drawing up possible lists of Israeli military targets. A separate report in US news site Axios said Israeli intelligence was girding for an attack in the coming days involving a large number of ballistic missiles and drones launched by Iran-backed groups in Iraq. Carrying out the attack through pro-Iran militias in Iraq could be an attempt by Tehran to avoid another Israeli attack against strategic targets in Iran, the report said. Both Axios and a CNN report Wednesday citing a source with knowledge of Iran’s war planning said the reprisal strike could be launched ahead of the US election on November 5.
However, sources who spoke to the Times said Iran would hold off until after the election, fearing that increased tensions could boost former president Donald Trump’s chances against Democrat Kamala Harris.
Speaking Thursday at the end of an IDF combat officers training course at a base near Mitzpe Ramon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that Israel’s sorties had targeted Iran’s “soft underbelly” and left it without an air defense umbrella. “The brash words of the leaders of the regime in Iran cannot cover up the fact that Israel has greater freedom of action in Iran today than ever before,” he said. “We can reach anywhere in Iran as needed.” “The recent action of the Zionist regime in attacking parts of our country was a desperate move and the Islamic Republic of Iran will give it a harsh and regretful response,” he said, according to the Tasnim news agency. Also speaking on Thursday, General Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran’s military, warned of an “unimaginable” response to Israel “Israel has reached the stage of collapse and these days it acts blindly and without abiding to any rules it commits every crime,” he added, according to Tasnim. Threatening further tit-for-tat attacks should Iran hit back, the IDF on Thursday announced the establishment of new bodies in the Intelligence Directorate and Air Force that will enable “repetitive actions” in Iran. A new Iran department was established in the Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division, and a so-called “depth” department was established in the Air Force’s Intelligence Department, the army said.
Speaking at the officer graduation, Netanyahu said the army’s supreme goal in Iran remained stopping the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
“I have not removed, we have not removed and we will not remove our eyes from this goal. For obvious reasons, I cannot detail our plans for achieving this supreme goal,” he said.