Above photo: John Angelillo/UPI.
Army readies ‘significant’ attack.
As Tel Aviv rushes toward its latest escalation in the regional war, Washington has called on its allies to avoid striking Iranian oilfields.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a recorded message on 5 October in which he pledged to strike back against Iran for its massive retaliatory attack that pummeled several Israeli military bases earlier this week.
“Twice already, Iran has fired, and we have intercepted hundreds of missiles from the largest ballistic missile attack in history. No country in the world would have accepted such an attack, and neither will Israel, and we will respond to these attacks,” the premier said as Israeli warplanes continued to rain down fire on civilian infrastructure across neighboring Lebanon.
Netanyahu claimed that over recent weeks the army “began to fulfill the promise I gave to the residents of the north. We eliminated [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah and the top echelon of Hezbollah … Although we have not yet completed the removal of the threat, we have clearly changed the course of the war and the balance of the war – until our arms are still outstretched.”
The Israeli premier, who faces war crimes and genocide charges from the International Criminal Court (ICC), stressed that his nation is “determined to defend itself against any threat. That includes the threat from Iran, which is behind all the attacks on us — from Gaza, from Lebanon, from Yemen, from Iraq and Syria — and of course, from Iran itself.”
Earlier in the day, military authorities in Tel Aviv announced that the response to Iran’s retaliation for Israel’s bombing of the presidential guesthouse in Tehran in July would be “serious and significant,” and that it was devoting much of its time to planning it.
Elsewhere in his speech, Netanyahu took aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, who said on Saturday, “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” adding that France was not sending any arms to Israel.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side. Yet, President Macron and other western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Netanyahu said in response.
US President Joe Biden on Friday cautioned Israel against striking Iranian oil facilities, a day after he said Washington was “discussing” such action.
“If I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oilfields,” Biden said. The White House previously said it does not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday declared that the Islamic Republic’s “strategic patience is over, urging all Muslim nations to “tighten the defense belt from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon.”
“Every country has the right to defend itself,” he stressed, adding that “Israel’s actions have intensified the anger of the Axis of Resistance and have reinforced its resolve.”
Iran FM pledges full support for Lebanon against Israeli crimes during Beirut visit.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi made an unannounced visit to Beirut just hours after a major Isaeli bombardment of the Lebanese capital.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Beirut on 4 October, following another night of heavy Israeli bombing in the city, and expressed Tehran’s support for Lebanon and Hezbollah in confronting Israel’s crimes.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Lebanon’s efforts to confront the crimes of the Zionist entity,” Araqchi said after his arrival.
Iran’s most senior diplomat added that the foreign minister’s presence in Beirut “in these difficult circumstances” was the best evidence that Iran stood by Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is now fighting an all-out war with Israel.
Araqchi also expressed his support for a ceasefire in Lebanon tied to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“We support efforts for a ceasefire on the condition that it would be acceptable to the Lebanese people, acceptable to the resistance, and thirdly, it would be synchronized with a ceasefire in Gaza,” he stated.
Araqchi’s delegation included the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, who announced that a package of 10 tons of foodstuff and medicine would also be delivered as part of Iran’s humanitarian assistance to Lebanon.
In the afternoon, Foreign Minister Araqchi met and held talks with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, telling him that “Iran will remain by Lebanon’s side and by the resistance’s side, and we are confident that the Zionist entity’s crimes will fail.”
🛑| 🇮🇷🇱🇧 Iran’s Foreign Minister casually landing in Beirut this morning pic.twitter.com/XYMbICQUfz
— Arya – آریا (@AryJeay) October 4, 2024
Araqchi’s visit comes three days after Iran fired as many as 400 ballistic missiles at military bases in Israel in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September.
According to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Nasrallah had agreed to a US-proposed temporary ceasefire on the day before his assassination.
While in Beirut, the Iranian foreign minister emphasized the Iranian attack on Israel was a legitimate act of self-defense according to UN principles.
“We did not start this, and what we did was in response to targeting Iranian territory, our embassy in Damascus, and Iranian interests,” he stated.
“We only targeted military and security centers in the entity. We have no plans to continue unless the Israeli entity decides to target us. If the entity [Israel] takes any action against us, our response will be more appropriate, proportionate, complete, and well thought-out,” Araqchi added.
Since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel on 8 October last year, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 1,974, including 127 children, and injured 9,384 more.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 41,802 people, the majority women and children, and injured 96,844 since the war began on 7 October last year.