US President Joe Biden believes Iran will attack Israel “sooner rather than later” in retaliation for last week's bombing of its consulate in Damascus and has urged Iranian authorities not to launch a response. navy. The president, as on other occasions, has assured that his country is “dedicated” to the defense of the Jewish State and will provide his full support to the Israeli authorities in the event of an open conflict with the Islamic Republic.
“We support Israel, we will defend Israel and Iran is not going to win,” Biden said about this hypothetical violent response. “I don't want to talk about classified information, but I have the expectation that it will happen sooner rather than later,” she said, aware of the growing tension. In fact, the Hebrew army announced this Saturday that it has attacked a Hezbollah compound – the Lebanese organization related to the Persian regime – in the vicinity of the town of Rihan, in southern Lebanon, hours after the Shiite group directed dozens of Katyusha missiles against northern Israeli territory. Fear of a new conflict in the region has led the Netherlands to close its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, as a “measure of concern.”
Israel has been holding its breath for days over possible retaliation from Iran after the attack that devastated its embassy in Damascus, where seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and several civilians died, and which points to the Hebrew army as responsible. A time, almost two weeks, in which both countries have carried out a verbal escalation that the West follows with concern and, above all, with the fear that it will go from words to actions at any moment and unleash a crisis with consequences that are difficult to foresee. in the Middle East. The response of the ayatollah regime, according to the information handled by US Intelligence and published this Friday by 'The Wall Street Journal', could be a matter of hours and “possibly on Israeli soil”, the worst scenario when it comes to stop a new outbreak of violence in the region.
The apparent imminence of the revenge that Ali Khamenei himself promised after the bombing of the consulate in the Syrian capital has multiplied movements in the international community in recent hours. To the advance trip of General Michael Kurilla, head of the US central command, to Israel to plan the response to a hypothetical attack, diplomatic contacts with Tehran are added to avoid what many consider inevitable. The Foreign Affairs officials of the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany did not hide their “concern” behind these calls. “Iran does not seek an escalation of hostility, but the return of sustainable security to the region is linked to the control of the warmongers and deranged leaders of the Zionist regime,” replied his Persian counterpart, Hosein Amirabdolahian.
Tehran's greatest fear, however, is that a retaliatory action on Israeli territory could backfire with a massive attack by the Hebrew army, for example, on its energy infrastructure. That is what, according to 'The Wall Street Journal', would be delaying the response of the Islamic republic, which does not want to make a hasty decision or, above all, counterproductive to its interests. “Iran must not drag the Middle East into a major conflict,” warned British Foreign Secretary David Cameron. The United States, which insists on its “strong” support for Tel Aviv, has begun to look for allies in other countries, such as China, Turkey or Saudi Arabia, to prevent precisely this escalation. The North American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asked them to pressure the Persian regime to avoid more violence in a region where conflicts occur. «Our enemies think they can separate Israel and the United States, but the opposite is true. They are uniting us and strengthening our ties. “We stand shoulder to shoulder,” said the Hebrew Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, after meeting with Kurilla.
“Terrified” population
Israel's messages regarding a hypothetical Iranian attack are also not encouraging. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Hebrew armed forces, stated that the country “is on alert and prepared for various scenarios” and that the army “will know how to act where necessary.” This Friday the war cabinet led by Benjamin Netanyahu met in an increasingly delicate scenario. On the Israeli border with Gaza, in cities like Ashkelon, the population lives in terror” of the threat from Tehran. Korin Peretz, one of his neighbors, told CNN this week of his ordeal: “I can't sleep at night, always worrying about this situation. Our life here is not safe at the moment, but there is no other place.
The US has asked China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to pressure the Iranian regime not to carry out its threat
It would not be the first time that Iran quenches its thirst for revenge. In 2020, the death of one of his generals, Qasem Soleimani, in a US bombing in Iraq led to an attack on US bases on Iraqi soil. Now, according to the public channel Kan, Israeli town councils have received official notice to begin preparing, for example, with the development of the shelters to which their residents could go in case the Islamic Republic carries out its threat. . And the army has already mobilized its reservists and the vacation permits of its soldiers have been cancelled.
The fear of an imminent action – which cannot be ruled out by groups related to the ayatollah regime, such as Hezbollah – does not stop growing and measures have also begun to be taken from abroad. France, like Russia did before, has advised its population not to travel to Israel, Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories and has also evacuated the relatives of the employees of its embassy in Tehran, while the United States has limited travel. of its diplomatic staff on Israeli soil to the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheba.
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