Iran general vows severe response to Israel as religious and national duty

Iran’s response to Israel’s recent assassinations will be “appropriate and severe”, the Deputy Coordinator at Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbya Air Defence Headquarters, Brigadier General Ali Shadmani, said yesterday

Speaking to TASS news agency on the sidelines of the Army 2024 Forum in the Russian capital Moscow, Shadmani said: “From Iran’s point of view, [by assassinating Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh], the terrorist group [Israel] has disturbed the security balance in the region… A strong country like Iran will have to retaliate. The method of retaliation was determined by our spiritual leader. It was not an easy choice.”

The Iranian general added that two factors influenced the issue: the regional situation and internal problems. All state officials in Iran have unanimously agreed that the response must be appropriate and severe, according to TASS.

On Sunday, the spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naeini, said that Israel will receive a “decisive response” for Haniyeh’s assassination, while Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, affirmed that avenging Haniyeh’s blood is both a “religious and national duty.”

Haniyeh was killed on 31 July while visiting Tehran to attend the inauguration of the country’s new President, Masoud Pezeshkian.

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