Israeli Strikes on Iran Expected In Near Future
October 13, 2024
10:58 AM
Reading time: 4 minutes
The American media portal NBC News reported on Saturday that US officials believe an Israeli strike on Iran's military and energy infrastructure is imminent, although the officials noted that the exact time, place and manner of Isreal's attack is not clear. Israeli officials have made several statements indicating their intention to retaliate for the ballistic missile attack Iran launched on October 1st. Iranian officials have, in turn, issued bellicose warnings that any such retaliation will be met with overwhelming force.
Iran has also tried to rally its few friends and allies to help it in the face of this increasingly likely devastating Israeli attack.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X this week that he “underscored the need for collective diplomatic efforts to halt the Zionist regime’s aggressions and crimes.” He went on to declare that the ballistic missile attack of October 1st was filly justified and added that the “Islamic Republic of Iran is fully prepared to take stronger defensive actions, if necessary, in response to any further aggression, and will not hesitate to do so.”
Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet on Thursday evening. The Pentagon said Austin “made clear that the United States is well postured to defend US personnel, partners, and allies against attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies.”
Biden Administration officials are reportedly strongly opposed to Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear sites or oil infrastructure. However, on Friday, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions on Iranian entities linked to Iran's petroleum and petrochemical sector
“This action intensifies financial pressure on Iran, limiting the regime’s ability to earn critical energy revenues to undermine stability in the region and attack US partners and allies,” it said in a statement.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added that other countries would soon be enacting similar sanctions, but Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a different narrative duting his meeting with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.
“We actively work together in the international arena, and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close,” Putin told Pezeshkian, according to the TASS News Agency. Pezeshkian reportedly agreed, telling Putin that “Our positions in the world are much closer to each other than to others.”
Meanwhile, Iranian and US diplomats traded accusations and threats in various international forums in recent days.
However, the US is doing more than lending rhetorical support to Israel.
On Saturday evening, Israeli news portal N12 reported that the Pentagon has decided to proceed with plans to deploy the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system to Israel to defend against the possibility of more ballistic missile attacks from Iran.
The THAAD system has been in production for many years and in January of 2022 it had its first successful combat interception, destroying an incoming ballistic missile launched at the UAE by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. The deployment of this system in Israel will require a deployment of approximately 3,000 US troops.