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Revolutionary Guards Corps said the attack was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to carry out “crushing attacks” against regional foe Israel if it retaliated for a missile attack under way on Tuesday.
“If the Zionist regime reacts to Iranian operations, it will face crushing attacks,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency.
Revolutionary Guards Corps said the attack was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel.
On Tuesday evening, Iran launched a missile attack targeting Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, state media reported. The United States had spoken of an imminent Iranian ballistic missile attack against Israel and warned it would have “severe” consequences for Tehran.
Iranian media carried online footage of what they said were missiles being launched against Israel. State television played joyful songs over the footage and its anchor congratulated “the brave Iranian people”.
Tuesday’s attack was Iran’s second on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in retaliation for a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Nearly all the munitions fired in that attack were intercepted by Israel or its allies.
An Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose Lebanese militant group has been armed and financed by the Islamic republic for years.
Nasrallah was killed alongside General Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the Guards’ foreign operations arm. Iran vowed Nilforoushan’s killing “will not go unanswered”.
At the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel of warmongering while Iran had exercised restraint.
He suggested Iran had held back retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, fearing it could derail US-backed efforts for a Gaza ceasefire.
“We tried to not respond. They kept telling us we were within reach of peace, perhaps in a week or so,” he said.
On Sunday, Pezeshkian said promises by the US and its allies of a “ceasefire in exchange for Iran’s non-reaction to Haniyeh’s killing were completely false”.
He added that “giving these criminals (Israel) a chance would only encourage them to commit more crimes.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
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