A person close to Israeli leaders who was briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told The Washington Post on Saturday that “the current intelligence is pointing to the possibility that Iran is preparing an attack on Israel in [the] coming days”.
High-ranking Iranian officials said on Thursday Tehran intends to respond to last week’s Israeli attack, signaling that the months-long cycle of attack and counterattack between Tehran and Tel Aviv that has provoked fears of a wider regional war could continue.
The officials did not provide details on the timing of the response or what form it might take.
On Saturday, the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that the US and Israeli regime will receive a crushing response for stoking tensions in the region.
A high-ranking source has also told CNN on Wednesday that Israel’s recent attacks on Iran will be met with a “definitive and painful” response that will likely come before the US presidential vote.
“The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the aggression of the Zionist regime will be definitive and painful,” the source, who is familiar with Iran’s deliberations, said.
Although the source did not provide an exact date for the attack, they added it “will probably take place before the day of the US presidential election”.
The Israeli regime attacked several Iranian military facilities early Saturday, killing four servicemen of the Armed Forces and one civilian.
The Iranian Air Defense Forces said in a statement that the country’s integrated air defense system successfully intercepted and countered the Israeli strikes targeting military locations in Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam provinces.
The attacks caused limited damage in some locations and the dimensions of the incident are under investigation, the statement added.
Iran has strongly condemned the Israeli assault as a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter, reiterating its right to defend itself against foreign acts of aggression. Tehran has stressed that it is not looking for war but will not abandon its right to give an appropriate and firm response to Israel’s latest onslaught.
