Israel threatens to strike Iran directly if Iran launches an attack from its territory

Jerusalem – The Israeli Foreign Minister threatened, on Wednesday, that his country's forces would directly strike Iran if the Islamic Republic launched an attack from its territory on Israel.

His comments came amid escalating tensions between rival powers following the killing of Iranian generals in an explosion targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month.

“If you attack Iran from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Israel Katz said in a post on the X website in Persian and Hebrew.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated his promise to take revenge on Israel for the attack on its consulate in Damascus.

Tehran holds Israel responsible for the raid that destroyed the building and led to the death of 12 people. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, although it has been preparing for an Iranian response to the attack, a major escalation in the long-running shadow war.

The raid resulted in the death of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who commanded the group's Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016. The other 11 dead included six IRGC members, four Syrians, and a member of the Hezbollah militia.

Israel has attacked dozens of Iran-linked targets in Syria over the years with the clear intent of disrupting arms transfers and other forms of cooperation with Lebanese Hezbollah, which Iran supports. The Israeli army rarely comments on these attacks. Since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began six months ago, there has been an almost daily exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The Hamas rulers in Gaza, who sparked the war by attacking southern Israel on October 7, are also backed by Iran. Tehran also supports an umbrella group of Iraqi militias targeting US military bases and sites in Syria and Iraq, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

Khamenei made these statements during a prayer ceremony marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, saying that the attack on the Iranian consulate resembled an attack on Iranian territory.

Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on Iranian state television: “When they attacked our consulate area, it seemed as if they attacked our territory.” “The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished.”

Neither Katz nor the Ayatollah explained how they would take revenge.

Khamenei also criticized the West, especially the United States and Britain, for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

He added: “They were expected to prevent (Israel) from this disaster. they did not. “The Western governments did not fulfill their duties,” he said.

Iran does not recognize Israel.