DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday threatened Israel and the United States with a “crushing response” for attacks on Iran and its allies.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials increasingly threaten to launch a new attack against Israel Following the attack on the Islamic Republic on 26 October Attacks targeted military bases and other locations, killing at least five people.

Any attack from either side could envelop the entire Middle East, which is already reeling Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground attack on Lebanon, which immediately escalates into a broader regional conflict Presidential election to be held this Tuesday in the USA.

“The enemies, whether it is the Zionist regime or the United States, will definitely receive an overwhelming response to what they have done to Iran, the Iranian nation and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in the video published by Iranian state media.

The religious leader did not provide detailed information about the timing and scope of the threatened attack. The US military operates from bases in the Middle East, and some troops are now Terminal High Altitude Area Defenseor THAAD, battery in Israel.

While the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is likely to be in the Arabian Sea, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday that more destroyers, fighter squadrons, tankers and B-52 long-range bombers will arrive in the region to deter Iran. and its militant allies.

Khamenei, 85, had adopted a more cautious approach in his previous statements, saying officials would evaluate Iran’s reaction and that Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated or underestimated.” Iran launched two major direct attacks on Israel in April and October.

But Iran’s efforts to downplay the Israeli attack have faltered, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show Damage to military bases near Tehran linked to the country’s ballistic missile program Revolutionary Guard base used for satellite launches.

Iran’s allies, whom Tehran calls the “Axis of Resistance,” have also suffered severely from ongoing attacks by Israel, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran has long used these groups both as an asymmetric way to attack Israel and as a shield against a direct attack. Some analysts believe these groups want Iran to do more to provide them with military support.

However, while Iran’s economy is struggling under the weight of international sanctions, it is also dealing with its own problems within the country. It has faced widespread and numerous protests for years. After Khamenei’s speech, the Iranian rial fell to 691,500 against the dollar, near an all-time low. When Tehran reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, the figure was 32,000 rials per dollar.

General Muhammad Ali Naini, spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles needed to target Israel, gave an interview published by the semi-official Fars news agency just before Khamenei’s statements were published. In the document, he warned that Iran’s response “will be intelligent, strong and beyond the enemy’s understanding.”

“The leaders of the Zionist regime must look out their bedroom windows and protect the criminal pilots in their own little territory,” he warned. Israeli air force pilots appear to have used air-launched ballistic missiles in the October 26 attack.

On Saturday, Khamenei met with university students to mark Student’s Day, which commemorates the November 4, 1978 incident when Iranian soldiers opened fire on students protesting the Shah’s rule at Tehran University. The conflict led to the deaths and injuries of many students and further escalated the tensions gripping Iran at the time, ultimately leading to the Shah’s flight from the country and the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The crowd welcomed Khamenei noisily, chanting: “The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader!” Some also made a hand gesture that resembled a “timeout” signal. Killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah In a speech in 2020, he threatened that American soldiers standing in the Middle East would “return in coffins” horizontally.

This Sunday, Iran will mark the 45th anniversary of the US Embassy hostage crisis according to the Iranian calendar. The embassy was raided by Islamist students on 4 November 1979 It led to a 444-day crisis that reinforced decades of hostility between Tehran and Washington that continues today.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved.