Iran’s patience snapped after assassinations
Iranian armed forces warn Israel against retaliation
Iranian officials said the country exercised self-restraint after Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader in Tehran, but ran out of patience following the continuation of the regime’s massacre in the region.
On Tuesday, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel’s military positions in response to the assassinations of leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah resistance movements, an Iranian top commander as well as the regime’s ongoing deadly aggression against Gaza and Lebanon.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that the Americans and Europeans told Tehran that they are trying to establish a cease-fire in Gaza within a week and called on Iran not to take any action against Israel. “We waited for peace, but they (Israelis) expanded their bloodshed and were emboldened,” Pezeshkian said upon his arrival in Qatar’s capital, where he is scheduled to meet the country’s officials and take part in an Asian conference.
“We want security and peace, it is Israel that assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran,” he added.
Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri also said the country exercised self-restraint after the regime’s assassination of the Hamas leader in Tehran on July 31 but ran out of patience following the assassination of Hezbollah’s secretary general and a top Iranian commander.
Baqeri said that “the situation was no longer tolerable” after the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s military advisor Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan during Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut on Friday.
Military targets
According to Bagheri, the targets of the “heroic” operation that served as a “response to many of the Zionists’ crimes” included three of the Israeli regime’s main airbases.
He named the bases as the headquarters of the regime’s Mossad spy agency, which he identified as the “center for terrorism,” the regime’s Nevatim airbase that houses its F-35 warplanes, and the Hatzerim base that was used for enabling Nasrallah’s assassination.
The targets also featured the regime’s strategic radars, the centers housing the regime’s tanks and personnel carriers, and the center accommodating those of the regime’s forces that partake in massacres against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday that several missiles fired by Iran hit inside Israeli air force bases but did not cause any casualties or damage.
‘Successful’ operation
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said the retaliatory operation has been more than 90% successful. He said that no civilian sites were among the targets.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian president said the operation against Israel proved that the regime’s Iron Dome missile interception system is “more fragile than glass.”
The Iranian president noted that “Iran does not seek war, yet it is not afraid of it either,” emphasizing that the Islamic Republic knows no limits when it comes to protecting the security, authority and dignity of its people and the country.
Bagheri also asserted that the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces were completely prepared to respond to the potential repetition of such atrocities on the part of the regime.