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Khamenei Aide: Iran Wearing Israel Down in ‘Psychological War’ as ‘Panicky’ Tel Aviv Awaits Strikes

© AFP 2023 / FADEL SENNAIsraeli soldiers mourn during the funeral of a fellow soldier on November 1, 2023, in a military cemetery in Jerusalem amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
Israeli soldiers mourn during the funeral of a fellow soldier on November 1, 2023, in a military cemetery in Jerusalem amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.04.2024
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Seven senior IRGC officers including two generals were killed in an Israeli strike targeting the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus on April 1. Israel and its US allies have gone on alert in expectation of massive Iranian retaliation, but the Islamic Republic has so far limited its response to the seizure of an Israeli billionaire-linked ship.
Israel is in a “complete panic” and growing weary of waiting for Iran’s response to the April 1 attack in Damascus, Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said.
“It has been a week that the Zionists are in complete panic and are on alert,” the IRGC major general said, speaking at a memorial service to Quds Force commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who was killed in the Embassy strike, on Saturday. “They don’t know what Iran wants to do, so they and their supporters are terrified,” Safavi said.
“This psychological, media and political war is more terrifying for them than the war itself, because they are waiting for an attack every night and many of them have fled and gone to shelters,” Safavi said.
The general suggested that the brazen nature of the Israeli act of aggression – the first of its kind in the decades-old shadow war between Israel and Iran, has intensified divisions among the Israeli political and military elite, “because all of them know that a consulate is the territory of a country.”
Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and will be punished” for the “mistake” of attacking the Iranian consulate in Syria, saying that “when they attack our consulate, it means they have attacked our soil.”
Khamenei did not elaborate on the nature of the “punishment” Tehran plans to mete out, with Israel preparing by heightening the alert status of its military, cancelling leave for troops, and closing at least 28 embassies and consulates around the world. The US has changed its military “force posture” in the Middle East to deploy additional assets near Israel to protect it from a possible Iranian attack, and urged Tehran directly and through intermediaries not to target its ally. Tehran has warned Washington to stay away, saying US forces will end up in Iran's crosshairs in the event of aggression.
This frame grab from video shows the launching of underground ballistic missiles by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard during a military exercise, July 29, 2020. Iran's paramilitary guard launched underground ballistic missiles as part of an exercise involving a mock-up aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, state television reported Wednesday - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.04.2024
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LIVE UPDATES: Netanyahu Says Iran's Attack Repelled
US officials expect the Iranian retaliation to come in the form of large-scale missile and drone strikes targeting Israel proper, but some observers think Tehran may stick to an asymmetric strategy – with Saturday’s seizure of an Israeli billionaire-linked cargo ship in the Hormuz Strait serving as an example of this indirect response.
Tel Aviv accused Tehran of engaging in “piracy” Saturday over the ship seizure, and warned that Iran would face “consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further,” without elaborating on what actions it may take.
The Hormuz Strait ship seizure is the second maritime blow Israel and its US allies have faced in the past six months, with Yemen’s Houthi militia effectively shutting down the Red Sea to Israeli, American and British commercial shipping in November by boarding and detaining some vessels and targeting others with missiles and drones. A US-UK campaign of air and missile strikes launched in January has been unable to dislodge the Houthis or stop their attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Thursday that “legitimate defense with the aim of punishing the aggressor” is Iran’s right under international law.
Экстренные службы работают у разрушенного здания иранского консульства, пострадавшего от авиаудара ВВС Израиля в Дамаске - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.04.2024
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Punishing Israel for Consulate Attack Avoidable Had UNSC Condemned It - Iran Mission to UN
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