Iranian ultraconservatives have demanded a fierce retaliatory strike on Israeli embassies in response to the killing of a leading military commander.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi was targeted by an air strike while attending a meeting at Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria on Monday afternoon.
Tehran has accused Israel of conducting the attack, vowing revenge against Benjamin Netanyahu’s forces in the latest escalation of tensions in the Middle East since the start of Israel’s operations against Hamas in October.
Hossein Shariatmadari, a vocal supporter of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – and the Kayhan Daily, considered to be the most conservative paper in Iran – called on the government to target Israeli embassies in a furious rant following the strike on Zahedi.
Shariatmadari said: “The United Nations, which has recognized the Zionist regime, must firstly; respect the provisions of the Vienna Convention.
“And secondly; respect the recognized principle of retaliation in international law and support Iran’s attack on the diplomatic centres of the fake Israeli regime.”
Zahedi played a leading role in Iran’s military operations in the region as the head of the Quds Forces, which specialise in intelligence operations.
Regional commentator Hezi Simantov told 103FM that the commander oversaw the movement of weapons from Syria to Lebanon – the base of the Iran-affiliated terrorist group Hezbollah.
Simantov said: “A very senior member of the Iranian hierarchy, he managed the entire operation of smuggling weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
“He was a very senior person who can be said to have given Israel a lot of headaches in the last twenty years for all his exploits in his involvement in terrorism.
“This is the most senior Iranian who has been eliminated so far since October 7 on Syrian soil.”
He added: “This is a severe and painful blow to the Iranian regime, a matter in which the Iranians are more inclined to take revenge against Israel.
“We have already eliminated several of their senior officials since October 7 on Syrian soil. This is the period when Iran wants to show that it is leading the axis of resistance.”
Israel has repeatedly targeted military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon.
It was not clear if Iran would respond itself, risking a dangerous confrontation with Israel and its ally the United States, or if it would continue to rely on proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly six months ago, those proxies have stepped up attacks, leading to near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel, and frequent Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Israel, which rarely acknowledges strikes against Iranian targets, said it had no comment on the latest attack in Syria, although a military spokesman blamed Iran for a drone attack early Monday against a naval base in southern Israel.
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Source » msn