Iran has a “crushing response” against Israel and the United States as the Pentagon pledged over the weekend to increase its military forces in the Middle East.
“Today, the Zionist regime is committing the most atrocious crimes in West Asia,” Iran’s Supreme leader Sayyid Ali Khamenei wrote on X/Twitter on Saturday.
“Instead of supporting the people of #Palestine [and] #Lebanon, some countries are providing economic [and] military aid to the malicious, cruel, bloodthirsty enemy,” he wrote.
“The United States of America and the Zionist regime will definitely receive a crushing response for what they do against #Iran and the #Resistance Front,” he stressed.
He spoke as Israel remains braced for an Iranian response to its strike a week ago on missile production facilities in the Islamic Republic.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj.-Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday that “should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people.
Deployment of additional ballistic missile defense destroyers
“In keeping with our commitments to the protection of US citizens and forces in the Middle East, the defense of Israel, and de-escalation through deterrence and diplomacy, the Secretary of Defense ordered the deployment of additional ballistic missile defense destroyers” to the Middle East in the coming months,” Ryder said.
This includes “fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, and several US Air Force B-52 long-range strategic bombers to the region.”
Israel for the last year has been in active battle against Iranian proxies, Hamas in the South, Hezbollah in the North and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran has twice directly attacked Israel, once in April and again in October.
Haidar al-Lami, a member of the Shi’ite al-Nujaba Movement told the Al-Akhbar news outlet that Iran has the right to target Israel from any place inside Iraq.
Tehran is likely to “use advanced missiles in the coming phase, in line with the escalation that will occur,” to target Israel before hitting American bases.
The US has not participated in any offensive Israeli action against Iran, but it has taken to the skies both in April and October to help defend the Jewish state from attacks by the Islamic Republic. The increased tension between Israel and Iran comes just days before the US elections on Tuesday, November 5.
The US has been increasing its diplomatic activity in the last weeks as the clock is beginning to run out on the Biden administration, with US President Joe Biden set to step down on January 20.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Thursday that “in Iran today, Israel has greater freedom of action than ever before. We can go anywhere that we need to in Iran.”