Iranian general says itching to carry out another direct missile attack on Israel
Revolutionary Guard aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh says he doesn’t know how many rockets would be used, but is ‘hopeful’ for opportunity to follow up April barrage of hundreds
A senior Iranian military commander said that the country is waiting for a chance to launch another direct attack on Israel as a follow-up to a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones it fired in April, Iranian media reported Tuesday.
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh made the remarks the day before in Tehran when he met with family members of people killed in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war there between Israel and the terror group Hamas. It was not clear from the report if the families he met were themselves from Gaza.
“We are hopeful of the arrival of the opportunity for [conducting] Operation True Promise 2,” Hajizadeh said, according to the Mehr News Agency, referring to the title of the April attack.
Hajizadeh said he did not know how many missiles would be used in a second attack.
In other quotes reported by the Tasnim news agency, Hajizadeh said, “As it is obvious from the weapons of our dear ones in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, it has now become clear that they are in fact being helped and supplied by Iran.”
He also boasted of Iranian attacks on US interests in the region, including shooting down surveillance drones and a 2020 barrage of rockets it fired at US bases in Iraq as revenge for the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
IRGC Air Force commander: #Iran targeted US' Global Hawk with a missile. We targeted US airbase in Iraq with 13 missiles. In True Promise operation, we fired 300 missiles. We await an opportunity for True Promise II operation in which I do not know how many missiles will be fired pic.twitter.com/zu8rJPcNTH
— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) July 1, 2024
On Friday Iran’s mission to the United Nations vowed “an obliterating war” against Israel if it launches a full-scale offensive against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded Saturday on X: “If Hezbollah does not cease its fire and withdraw from southern Lebanon, we will act against it with full force until security is restored and residents can return to their homes.”
And, he added, “a regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed.”
Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, and other groups in Syria and Iraq, has been targeting Israel since October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Iran itself launched an unprecedented missile-and-drone strike on Israel on April 14, two weeks after an alleged Israel airstrike near Tehran’s embassy in Damascus killed several senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian strike was almost entirely repelled by Israel, the United States, and other allies, though a 7-year-old girl was seriously injured in the attack.
Soon after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Israel evacuated many northern towns, fearing Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, would carry out a similar attack. Some 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain displaced, as the country seeks to remove the terror group from its northern border. Hezbollah has carried out near-daily attacks along the border or by firing missiles into northern Israel.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been steadily mounting, with a US official cited in Politico on Thursday as saying that the risk of war is higher than it has been for weeks. According to the official, a major attack by either side could spark a war, which could happen with “little notice.”
Israeli security leaders have also said they would prefer a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but were readying the military in case war became necessary.
Hajizadeh’s public touting of Iran’s weapons support for the Palestinians came as over 100 victims of the Hamas October 7 attack filed a $4 billion lawsuit in the US against Iran, Syria, and North Korea, saying their governments supplied the terrorists with money, weapons, and know-how needed to carry out the assault.
