Iran’s Supreme Leader Threatens Israel, US with ‘Crushing Retaliation’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran’s Supreme Leader on Saturday threatened Israel and the United States with a “crushing response” over attacks on Iran and its allies.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials increasingly threaten to strike again Israel after the October 26 attack on the Islamic Republicc, which targeted military bases and other installations and killed at least five people.

Any further attacks from any side could engulf the entire Middle East, which is already poised over War between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon, into the wider regional conflict the day before US presidential elections Tuesday.

“The enemies, be it the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response for what they are doing to Iran, the Iranian nation and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a video published by Iranian state media.

He did not specify the timing of the threat of attack or the scale. The US military operates from bases throughout the Middle East, with some troops currently manning a THAAD battery in Israel.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is likely in the Arabian Sea, and Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday that more destroyers, fighter squadrons, tankers and B-52 long-range bombers will be arriving in the region to deter Iran. and his warlike allies.

Khamenei, 85, had taken a more cautious approach in previous remarks, saying officials would weigh Iran’s response and that the Israeli attack “should neither be exaggerated nor minimized.” Iran launched two major direct attacks on Israel, in April and October.

But Iran’s efforts to downplay the Israeli attack failed as satellite photos reviewed by The Associated Press showed damage to military bases near Tehran associated with the country’s ballistic missile program, as well as a Revolutionary Guard base used for satellite launches.

Iran’s allies, which Tehran called the “axis of resistance”have also been seriously affected by ongoing Israeli attacks, especially by Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran has long used these groups as an asymmetric means of attacking Israel and as a shield against direct attack. Some analysts believe these groups want Iran to do more to support them militarily.

However, Iran faces its own challenges domestically as its economy struggles under the weight of international sanctions and has faced widespread and widespread protests for years. After Khamenei’s speech, the Iranian rial fell to 691,500 against the dollar, close to an all-time low. When Tehran entered into a nuclear agreement with world powers in 2015, the dollar exchange rate was 32,000 rials.

General Mohammad Ali Naini, a spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, which controls the ballistic missiles needed to defeat Israel, gave an interview published by the semi-official Fars news agency shortly before Khamenei’s remarks were published. In it, he warned that Iran’s response “will be wise, powerful and beyond the enemy’s understanding.”

“The leaders of the Zionist regime must look out of their bedroom windows and protect their criminal pilots in their small territory,” he warned. Israeli Air Force pilots appear to have used air-launched ballistic missiles during the October 26 attack.

Khamenei met with university students on Saturday to mark Students’ Day, which commemorates the Nov. 4, 1978, incident when Iranian soldiers opened fire on students protesting the Shah’s rule at Tehran University. The shooting killed and wounded several students, further increasing the tensions engulfing Iran at the time, ultimately leading to the Shah’s flight from the country and the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The crowd cheered loudly for Khamenei, chanting: “The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader!” Some also made a hand gesture similar to the “time out” signal given by slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a 2020 speech in which he threatened that American troops who arrived in the Middle East standing would “return in coffins” horizontally .

This Sunday, Iran will mark the 45th anniversary of the US Embassy hostage crisis, following the Persian calendar. The storming of the embassy by Islamist students on November 4, 1979 led to a 444-day crisis that cemented decades of hostility between Tehran and Washington that continues today.

A Lebanese strike on a building in the predominantly Israeli-Arab city of Tire wounded 11 people in central Israel on Saturday, according to the Magen David Adom emergency service.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Saturday it used missiles and explosive drones to attack military and intelligence sites in northern and central Israel. He took responsibility for firing rockets at Israeli military base 8200 at Glilot on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, as well as for firing rockets at military targets in Zevulun. Thira is located about 12 miles from Glilot. Hezbollah also said it attacked the Palmachim airbase in central Israel with explosive drones, saying they “achieved accurate hits on their targets.”

The Israeli military did not confirm whether any of Hezbollah’s three targets were hit and said it did not comment on the group’s statements.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut wounded 11 people on Saturday afternoon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. In a separate incident, a Lebanese ship captain was kidnapped by armed men who landed on the coast north of Beirut, Lebanese authorities said on Saturday. Officials said the incident happened at dawn Friday and authorities were investigating whether Israel was involved.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the matter. In the past, Israel has carried out sabotage operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel has also stepped up its offensive against remaining Hamas militants, raising concerns about humanitarian conditions for civilians still there.

Israeli strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 42 people in 24 hours, more than half of them women and children, said Dr. Marwan Abu Nasser, director of Al-Auda Hospital. Another 150 people were injured, he said.

Israel’s war in Gaza has claimed more than 43,000 Palestinian lives since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostages back to Gaza. Health officials in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip do not differentiate between civilians and combatants but say more than half of those killed in the enclave are women and children.

Gambrell writes for the Associated Press. AP journalists Adam Schreck in Jerusalem, Bassem Mrou in Beirut, Natalie Meltzer in Tel Aviv and Shlomo Mor in Tire and Times staff contributed to this report.