April 6 :
In response to Israel's recent missile strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, former defence secretary Mark Esper predicted on Friday that Iran will likely retaliate against Israel.
No one from Israel has taken the blame for the attack that murdered Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Reuters reported that a Lebanese security source had initially implicated Israel; in response, a military spokesman for Israel said, "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."
To prevent a regional war, Esper said in a CNN interview that Iran will launch limited attacks against Israel.
"They are going to act," Esper stated on Friday. "They're going to feel the need, to uphold their dignity, to maintain credibility with their proxies, throughout the region, and to really meet the demands of hardliners, within the theocracy that wants to see something done."
"But on the other hand, they're not going to want to make this a wider war," said he. No one wants things to get worse. They are well aware of the catastrophic consequences for Iran of even a small war with Israel or the US. I believe their intention is to restrict the strike to Israeli territory.3
Six other Iranian military advisors were killed in addition to Zahedi in the reported Israeli hit; Iran has stated that it reserves the right "to take a decisive response" afterwards.
According to a senior official in President Biden's administration who talked with Fox News Digital, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden discussed the Iranian threat on Thursday.
Since then, there has been constant and frequent communication between our teams. The official stated that the United States is completely behind Israel's defence efforts in the face of Iranian threats.
Two American defence officials stated that the United States' Middle Eastern force posture has remained unchanged since prior to Israel's airstrike on Damascus. The United States is keeping an eye on developments in light of Iran's heated rhetoric, but it has taken no action to be ready for an imminent strike.
From the perspective of force projection, "nothing has changed," according to officials.
Despite the fact that Israel has denied any involvement in the attack on Iran's consulate, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have reportedly cancelled all IDF personnel's leave and activated extra reserve troops to strengthen the air defence systems around Israel's northern border.
According to Israeli news site Haaretz, there have been numerous instances of GPS disruptions on Israeli applications, with some users being detected in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. This has been interpreted as an effort to confound Israeli drone threats.
"We are in a multi-front war," said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, restating Israel's involvement in the complex combat. We are keeping an eye on all of our adversaries, not only Hamas. In order to be prepared for anything, we keep an eye on all possible fronts and dangers.
