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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered his military officials to prepare a retaliatory attack against Israel, The New York Times reported on October 31, citing Iranian officials.
The order came after a series of Israeli strikes hit Iranian military targets, including air defenses and missile sites, on October 26. The strikes were themselves a response to a large-scale ballistic missile attack launched by Tehran against Israel on October 1.
The New York Times, citing three officials with knowledge of Iran’s war planning, said that Khamenei had ordered plans drawn up by his Supreme National Security Council on October 28 after being briefed on the extent of the damage from the Israeli strikes, which killed four Iranian officers.
Khamenei said a day after the strikes that Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Iran’s power to Israel, noting that the Israeli attack should “neither be downplayed nor exaggerated.”
The New York Times reported that Iran’s response would not come until after the United States presidential elections, which is set to be held on November 5.
The officials who spoke to the newspaper said that Tehran would hold off until after the election, fearing that increased tensions could boost former president Donald Trump’s chances against Democrat candidate Kamala Harris.
Nevertheless, both Axios and CNN reported on October 30, also citing officials with knowledge of Iran’s war planning, that the Iranian retaliatory attack could be launched ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
A more recent report by Axios from October 31 said that Israeli intelligence was preparing for an attack in the coming days involving a large number of ballistic missiles and suicide drones launched by Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq. The report cited two Israeli sources.
Carrying out the attack from Iraq could be an attempt by Tehran to avoid another Israeli attack against strategic targets in Iran, the U.S. news site said.
Also speaking on October 31, Major General Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned of an “unimaginable” response to Israel.
“Israel has reached the stage of collapse and these days it acts blindly and without abiding to any rules it commits every crime,” the commander said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Despite all recent reports, it is still unclear if Iran will respond to the latest Israeli attack. Iran’s alleys in Iraq have been launching missile and drone strikes against Israel since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip last year. Linking their action to Tehan may be an attempt to justify future Israeli military operations against Iraq, whose airspace was allegedly violated during the attack on Iran.
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