Iranian hardliners demand military response to Israeli attack on diplomatic mission in Syria
“The Islamic Republic of Iran must respond. Its territory is being violated and it cannot afford to be inactive,” the former Revolutionary Guards commander insisted.
The attack, which killed at least 13 people, including a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander and seven officers, prompted Iran’s president and foreign minister to immediately threaten retaliation against Israel. [Getty]
Just one week after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s statement, emphasized Against the backdrop of media dominance over missiles and drones in modern conflicts, an Israeli attack destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, forcing Khamenei to take a more aggressive stance and vowing retaliation against Israel. Ta.
The attack, which claimed the lives of at least 13 people, including seven senior commanders and officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), prompted Iran’s president and foreign minister to immediately threaten retaliation against Israel. However, these assurances failed to satisfy Iran’s hardline politicians.
Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has repeatedly targeted Revolutionary Guards leaders. In response, Tehran has vowed to retaliate, emphasizing a strategy of “strategic patience” and avoiding a broader regional conflict, denying Israel the opportunity to divert international attention from civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. I argued that it would happen.
Despite extensive propaganda within the regime supporting this foreign policy approach, recent attacks directly targeting the Iranian consulate have provoked vocal criticism from hardliners within the regime.
Conservative politician Yasser Jebraily, who is closely aligned with President Ebrahim Raisi’s government, called for immediate action on a similar scale from Israel. Gebraili publicly dismissed officials’ “strategic patience” and insisted that Iran’s response would not escalate to full-scale war.
He suggested that if Israel does not respond decisively, it may increase its use of “means other than war” and increase its deployment of gray zone strategies.
“In this situation, rationality demands a comparable level of reciprocal action. Such a response would send the message that even if Iran avoided full-scale war, it would not stop it from retaliating for acts that fall below the threshold of war. “It means that the next attack will inevitably lead to a counterattack,” he said. I felt stressed.
Gebraili went further to criticize the regime’s attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Sad military base in response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s external operations division. Soleimani was killed by US forces in a 2020 air raid on Baghdad International Airport.
“Had this strategy been adopted, the appropriate response to the assassination of Hajj Qasem would have been to target U.S. military personnel rather than a missile attack on the Ain al-Asad base. “If we had the strength, the determination, the ability to do it. If we attack Iran, there is no need for an excuse.”
pro-conservative Aleph’s website also called for a strong response. Israel warned that any action without considering military measures would harm Iran’s national interests.
“Through its decades of ignominious existence, the Jerusalem occupation regime has shown that it understands nothing but occupation, war, and killing…The attack on our consulate shows that the only language Zionists understand is force. and that it is a language of resistance,” the Aleph website claims.
Meanwhile, even some proponents of the “strategic patience” theory, including Iran’s former ambassador to Iraq, question its effectiveness, given its targeting of Iran’s official diplomatic mission in Syria. This marks a new level of violence in Israel’s regional policy.
Hassan Danaeifar, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian ambassador to Iraq from 2010 to 2017, said that Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria is tantamount to an attack on Iranian territory, and there is no other option than retaliation. He emphasized.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran must respond. Its territory is being violated and it cannot afford to remain inactive.” claimed that.
A former Iranian diplomat even suggested considering Israeli diplomatic missions in European countries as potential targets for retaliation.
“Iran must respond appropriately to the Zionist regime’s attacks, even if they occur in a European country, to convey the seriousness of our position… “It could reflect an invasion of the Zionist regime that targeted this regime’s diplomatic centers in Iran,” he suggested.
