White House Expects Scale of Imminent Iranian Strike on Israel Won't Draw US Into Conflict - Report
05:36 GMT 12.04.2024 (Updated: 06:39 GMT 12.04.2024)
© AP Photo / Omar SanadikiAn Israeli air strike on April 1, 2024, demolished Iran’s consulate in Damascus, killing two Iranian generals and five officers.
© AP Photo / Omar Sanadiki
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Tel Aviv is expecting a direct attack from Iran on southern or northern Israel within the next 24 to 48 hours, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing insiders. No final decision has been made yet, although plans for an attack are being discussed, the Thursday report stated, citing a person briefed by the Iranian leadership.
The US expects a retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel will not be of a magnitude that would draw Washington directly into the conflict, Reuters reported, citing sources.
Although such a strike by the Islamic Republic is anticipated, Tehran has reportedly indicated to the White House that it seeks to avoid a major escalation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is believed to have conveyed the corresponding message during his visit to Oman on Sunday. Tehran will also be pressing ahead with demands for a Gaza truce, as per Iranian sources.
Another source said Iran had “been very clear” that its response to the Israeli strike on its embassy in Syria’s capital would be “non-escalatory” and “controlled.”
Washington has also sought to assure Tehran that it was not involved in the strike, according to a cited White House spokesperson.
Israel carried out an airstrike on the consular annex of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus on April 1. The attack destroyed the building, killing seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, among them General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, and his deputy Mohammad Hadi Hajizadeh. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that Israel would pay a "heavy price" for the strike.
"If Iran attacks from its territory - Israel will respond and attack in Iran," Israel's foreign minister threatened Iran with strikes, tweeting in Hebrew and Persian and tagging Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) April 10, 2024
Iran's supreme leader, for his part, later said that the Israeli… pic.twitter.com/eWq4XDmu3Y
In the wake of the Israeli airstrike, speculation has mounted regarding the scale of an anticipated response from Tehran. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the aggression "violated all diplomatic norms and international treaties."
Iran has the right to take action in response to the Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, the Iranian mission to the UN said. It added that Tehran would no longer have had an imperative to punish Israel over the attack if the UN Security Council had condemned it.
"Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated," the Iranian Mission said via the social media platform X.
Russia is in constant contact with Iran in light of Tehran's possible response to the Israeli strike against the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.
Russia condemns Israel's attack on the Iranian Consulate and believes that condoning Israeli actions in the Middle East, which are the core of Washington's policy, is largely becoming the root cause of more and more tragedies, the diplomat added.