Iran’s supreme leader has threatened to inflict a “crushing response” on the U.S. and Israel over attacks on Iran and its allies.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued the warning on Saturday as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch another strike against Israel after its attack on the Islamic Republic last week that targeted military bases and killed at least five people.
“The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front,” said Khamenei, 85, according to The Associated Press. He did not elaborate on the timing of the threatened attack or the scope.
Khamenei had previously struck a more cautious approach, saying officials would weigh Iran’s response and that Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed.” Iran has launched two major direct attacks on Israel in April and October.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to a crowd in Tehran on Saturday. Khamenei has threatened to inflict a “crushing response” on the U.S. and Israel.
Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/AP
General Mohammad Ali Naini, a spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that controls the ballistic missiles needed to target Israel, also warned that Iran’s response would be “wise, powerful and beyond the enemy’s comprehension.”
“The leaders of the Zionist regime should look out from the windows of their bedrooms and protect their criminal pilots within their small territory,” he warned in an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency.
It comes after the U.S. revealed on Friday that it would deploy additional military resources to the Middle East in the coming months. Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said that further destroyers, fighter squadrons, tankers and B-52 long-range bombers would be sent to the Middle East to deter Iran and its allies from conducting more attacks.
“Secretary Austin continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people,” Gen. Ryder said.
The U.S. military operates on bases throughout the Middle East, with some troops now manning a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery in Israel.
Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon for comment outside of normal working hours regarding the Iranian threats.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said on Saturday that it had used missiles and explosive drones to target military and intelligence facilities in northern and central Israel.
It claimed responsibility for firing missiles toward the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 base in Glilot, on the edge of Tel Aviv, and for firing rockets toward military facilities in Zvulun.
Hezbollah also said it had targeted central Israel’s Palmachim Air Base with explosive drones, saying they “scored precise hits on targets.”
The Magen David Adom emergency service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel and glass shards in a strike on a building in Tira, a town in central Israel. Three were in moderate condition, while the others suffered milder injuries.
Israel’s military did not confirm whether any of the three Hezbollah targets had been hit and said it had no comment on the group’s claims.
An Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday also wounded 11 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
