President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with his national security team in the Situation Room later on Monday amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.
The Islamic Republic could attack Israel in the next 24 to 48 hours following a major attack by Hezbollah that left two IDF soldiers injured, top western diplomats have warned.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the G7 yesterday that an attack in response to Israel killing Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Fuad Shukr in Beirut, was imminent, as reported by Axios.
Meanwhile Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reportedly spoke to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Sunday to assure the Jewish state of US support.
It would be the second time during the growing crisis in the Middle East that Iran has directly attacked Israel, the first being in April when it sent a salvo of missiles and drones overnight.
But unlike the April attack, the US admitted in a private call with G7 members that it doesn’t know what the expected retaliatory strike will look like.
Nevertheless, Iran has clearly signaled that it intends to attack its foe, claiming it has the ‘legal right’ to respond to Haniyeh’s assassination, with foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani telling a news conference: ‘No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime.’
The head of the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, meanwhile threatened Israel, warning that the state was ‘digging its own grave’ by carrying on its war against terror group Hamas.
‘They will see the result of their mistake. They will see when, how and where they will get their response,’ Salami said in a speech.
The threats from Iran comes just hours after Hezbollah, backed by the Iranian regime, launched a silo of 30 missiles from Lebanon towards upper Galilee.
Stark footage from the region showed Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system firing defensive missiles to intercept the barrage.
Despite this, two Israeli troops were wounded in the attack, which also set off a fire in northern Israel.
Hezbollah said in a statement it targeted a military base in northern Israel in response to ‘attacks and assassinations’ carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon.
The escalating tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran have led to growing fears of an all-out war breaking out in the Middle East between Israel and Tehran’s proxies.
