Tehran Times on Tuesday reported that Iran’s foreign office “has sent a clear warning to the White House emphasizing its readiness to swiftly and decisively respond to any fresh military adventures by Israel that threaten Iran’s interests and security.”
Betraying a feeling of anxiety on the part of the regime in Tehran, Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, on Tuesday warned on state TV that his country would respond to any fresh Israeli mistake within seconds.
“The Zionists should know that they will not have a 12-day-long time-space,” he said, referring to the anticipated Israeli retaliatory attack. “The response that they are going to receive this time around cannot be measured by days or hours, but by seconds.”
The Deputy Foreign Minister’s statement was one of many cited on Monday and Tuesday by Iranian news outlets.
Mehr cited the spokesman of the Iranian Parliament National Security Commission, Abolfazl Amouei, who warned, “We are ready to use a weapon that we have not used so far,” should Israel retaliate.
He didn’t go into specifics.
Tehran Times also reported that “A senior Iranian military spokesman warned on Monday night that Iran will ‘cut the foot of any aggressor’ that launches an attack on the Iranian territory, warning the US, Britain, France, and Germany to stop supporting the Zionist regime of Israel.”
NO HYPOTHETICALS
State Dept. Spokesman Matthew Miller was asked on Monday by an Italian TV reporter, “In case of a further escalation, will the US be willing to be involved in a potential war toward Iran in which other countries in the region might join the US?”
Miller responded that he didn’t want to deal with hypotheticals, and concluded, “We are committed to Israel’s defense and we showed that over the weekend, but we want to achieve de-escalation.”
In other words, the US, much like the Iranians, is anxious about a possible Israeli strike. For the record, in their phone conversation Saturday night, President Biden did not warn PM Netanyahu not to strike back, he only told him the US would not join such an attack.
Incidentally, should Israel decide to attack using its air force, it would have to be granted passage over areas that are controlled by the US military. The Israeli warplanes must possess the US air defense pass codes to avoid being shot at.
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT DECLARE IRAN ITS ENEMY
The US is also maintaining its communication with Tehran and insists on treating its leaders as if they were rational and civilized human beings. Take for instance this exchange between NSC Spokesman John Kirby and a right-wing reporter on Monday, when Kirby insisted the billions of dollars unfrozen by the Biden administration, undoing President Trump’s sanctions, only go toward buying medicine and fresh shakshuka for the needy:
NSC Spokesman John Kirby claims the Biden administration unfreezing billions of dollars for Iran only goes to humanitarian purposes and not to Iranian leaders. pic.twitter.com/i0s8zrqTRW
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) April 15, 2024
Also on Monday, it appears the administration granted Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian an entry visa so that he may attend upcoming United Nations meetings in New York City. Now, this has been State Dept. protocol since the first time Fidel Castro was invited to speak at the general assembly. Also, countries with which the US does not have diplomatic relations are allowed to keep their UN missions in New York City (and not pay their parking tickets).
However, to devoted friends of Israel such as Oklahoma Senator James Lankford who is mentioned in the tweet below, letting Abdollahian into the country after his country attacked the Jewish State was offensive.
BREAKING: Biden Admin Grants Iranian Foreign Minister Visa To Enter U.S. Days After Israel Strike — @SenatorLankford demands “immediate action to revoke the visa of [the] Iranian foreign minister,” citing weekend attack as justification https://t.co/warZqmQYXn
— Adam Kredo (@Kredo0) April 15, 2024
On February 15, Senator Lankford introduced two bills countering Iran’s global aggression. The Deterring Iranian Support for Russia in Ukraine and Pre-empting Terrorism (DISRUPT) Act, which puts pressure on Iran over its military partnership with Russia, and the Sanctioning Transfers and Outbound Products to (STOP) Iran Act, to prevent American products from enabling Iranian terrorism.
“Iran poses a direct threat to the United States and our allies,” said Lankford. “The Biden Administration must act to disrupt Iran’s partnership with Russia and stop the use of American-made products in Iranian drones. The DISRUPT Act and the STOP Iran Act are critical to countering Iran and demonstrating to our adversaries that we will not enable them any further.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is otherwise engaged in a courtroom in Manhattan, managed to squeeze in a comment on the fact that when he was president Iran was under a barrage of sanctions which kept it from spreading terrorism around the world. Or at least curbed their capacity for evil. Evil is expensive.
Speaking of expensive evil, estimates are that it cost Israel between one and one and a half billion dollars to thwart the Iranian attack Saturday night, or the equivalent of what Israelis spent hoarding electricity generators and bottled water.
SO, WHAT ABOUT ISRAELI RETALIATION AGAINST IRAN?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday convened an urgent and intensive series of debates on Israel’s response to Iran’s massive attack Saturday night. Although the attack of more than 350 missiles and drones ended in a resounding failure: only four surface missiles breached Israeli defenses, and one Bedouin girl in the Negev was seriously injured – a dangerous precedent has been set, and Israel must make clear to Tehran that its actions will have consequences.
Netanyahu will convene the cabinet again on Tuesday. There appears to be a consensus spanning from Itamar Ben Gvir to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and the security apparatus that there must be retaliation. Halevi said as much on Monday at the Nevatim Air Force base in the Negev, the only site in Israel to be hit by Iranian missiles, albeit with negligible damage.
Most of the cabinet ministers and the war cabinet officials were also aware of the need to retaliate at a measure that would stop short of igniting World War 3. Also, its magnitude should be kept low enough so Hezbollah would not be thrown into the battlefield by the Iranians.
Hezbollah kept a low profile during Saturday night’s attack, firing about the same number of missiles it usually has done in the past six months. Should Tehran decide to unleash Hezbollah’s full potential this would change everything, including inflicting severe damages on Israel, and also ending the country of Lebanon as we now know it.
No doubt about it, we are living in interesting times. I was going to include here a segment about how Russia is one of the beneficiaries of the Iranian attack, as the world’s attention is being diverted from its campaign in Ukraine which appears to be gaining some success. It may also give Israel reason to expect that the Russian Army contingency in Syria would not intervene should it become necessary to take Lebanon, and possibly Syria, back to the stone age.
