As the world awaits Iran's response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the waiting itself suggests the retaliation will come in the form of a "big strike," independent journalist Jim Kavanagh told Sputnik.
Since the Haniyeh killing, as well as that of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, both Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah have vowed to response.
As Khamenei issued an order for a direct strike during an emergency meeting in the aftermath of the assassination, Nasrallah has promised a "impactful and effective response." Reports have indicated that the waiting game is part of the response.
"The longer they take, it seems to me - again, we're all guessing, we're all speculating, I don't know what's happening ... but it seems to me the longer they take that just means they're more seriously preparing," Kavanagh told
Radio Sputnik's Critical Hour on Friday. "They're getting ready for what they're going to do offensively and they're getting ready for what they can do defensively."
"The end of this, however long it takes, whatever starts, it's going to be a situation in which either Israel is going to continue killing anybody it wants, any number of people it wants, anywhere it wants, anyhow it wants, or - in which case Israel will have won a strategic victory - or there'll be a situation, which would be a first, in which Israel will have been hurt so badly that it's forced to back off from killing anybody it wants, whenever it wants, etc.," Kavanagh said.
"It's hard for me to see how either side will accept one of those outcomes but it's also hard for me how either side would stop fighting until it's forced to accept one of those outcomes. So we're in a very, very, dangerous situation," Kavanagh noted.
Asked of the US' complicity in the matter, fellow guest Steve Poikonen, who serves as the host of AM WakeUp and SlowNewsDay, remarked there was no doubt the US is a party to the conflict. "Absolutely they are," he said.
The US recently announced it would deploy aircraft carriers USS Gerald Ford and USS Eisenhower to the Middle East in defense of Israel, along with support ships and some 2,000 US Marines. This, on top of the months' worth of aid packages and intelligence assistance already provided.
"So, Iran has the ability, Hezbollah has the ability and the Houthis have the ability to make this very expensive for the US and Israel very, very, quickly."
Kavanagh stated "it's important that everyone recognizes this is to protect the zionist project."
Kavanagh emphasized that the conflict needs to be settled in a manner in which it "sets a new paradigm and sets something that can be stable and secure for at least another 10 years," but that in order to get there, "it's going to take a decisive battle to do that."
"[It's] going to involve all of the Axis of Resistance, not just Iran and the Houthis and Hezbollah, etc., the entire Axis of Resistance and the United States and Israel, and we're going to see nuclear weapons used by Israel," he said. "Guarantee it."