Iran is bracing for an Israeli response to its second massive ballistic missile attack last week, which could come at any time.
On Sunday, the theocratic leader of the regime, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a medal to Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the aerospace commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the U.S. considers a terrorist group. He was responsible for the launching of 200 missiles at Israel last week, which did little actual damage.
At the same time, U.S. Gen. Michael Kurilla, the commander of CENTCOM, met with his counterparts in Israel ahead of what many believe will be a coordinated attack between the two allies. Iran has reportedly closed its airspace in the west of the country for several days to civilian aircraft in anticipation of a possible air attack from Israel in the west.
President Joe Biden has made a number of puzzling pronouncements, telling Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, then suggesting, and then discouraging, an attack on Iran’s oil and gas facilities. Iranian oil tankers have reportedly distanced themselves from the facilities in anticipation of a possible attack by Israel, regardless.
Israel could attack Iran’s nuclear facilities or oil infrastructure anyway. In any event, it would also likely target Iran’s missile-launching facilities, which clearly pose a threat to Israel.
Although Israel stopped all but 2 of 300 projectiles from landing in the first Iranian attack in April, at least 23 out of the 181 missiles (19 failed en route) landed in Israel the second time around. Iran is using its attacks to refine its capabilities, and future attacks could be armed with weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons that Iran is known to be on the path to developing.
Israel could also attack Iranian government facilities. Last week, Netanyahu posted a message to the Iranian people, supporting their political aspirations against the rule of the ayatollahs. An attack may aim to destabilize the regime.
Israel may also have some surprises in store. Israeli intelligence has a significant presence in Iran and could mount internal sabotage attacks. One would also not be surprised to see an Israeli attack from from a completely different direction — perhaps from submarines, or even from air strips that may have been built secretly to the north or east.
Despite Iran’s official bravado, Iranians have reportedly been lining up at gas stations to fill up before an attack.
Moreover, Esmayeel Qaani, who replaced Qasem Soleimani in 2020 as leader of the Quds Force within the IRGC after Soleimani was killed by an airstrike ordered by then-President Donald Trump, has not been heard from since last week. Qaani was visiting the remaining Hezbollah leaders in Beirut, several of whom are also unaccounted for since an Israeli airstrike targeting Hashim Safi a-Din, the likely successor to Hassan Nasrallah. His death is considered likely but has not yet been confirmed.
Iran is thought to have little ability to resist an Israeli attack. Israel penetrated Iranian air defenses easily in April in its perfunctory response to the first ballistic missile attack. (President Biden pressured Israel not to respond in a more dramatic fashion.) Iran has threatened to attack Israel in response to any counterattack. Whatever the target, Israel is likely to attack in such a way as to deny Iran any chance to respond.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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