Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his American colleague Lloyd Austin that Iran is preparing for a major military attack on Israel in retaliation for the assassination of the Hamas leader in Tehran.
The telephone conversation between Gallant and Austin was first reported on the X network by the journalist of the American online media Axios Barak Ravid, and the call was confirmed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, clarifying that the two ministers discussed operational and strategic coordination and the readiness of the Israeli army for Iranian threats.
Austin, meanwhile, ordered the deployment of a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East after the US military already announced it would deploy additional warplanes and warships to the region to help bolster Israel’s defenses.
Iran is preparing to carry out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order to “severely punish” Israel for the killing of Palestinian Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July, Iranian media quoted the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as saying on Friday.
According to Axios, citing Israeli intelligence assessments, Iran is expected to launch a direct attack on Israel in the next few days, possibly before talks between Israel and Hamas on Thursday on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of captured Israeli hostages.
It is a twist, as Israeli intelligence last week suggested that Iran had not yet decided on the timing and extent of its response to Haniya’s murder, estimating that international pressure and internal debates in Iran could prepare Khamenei for only limited retaliation against Israel.
According to Axios, Israeli intelligence remains confident that Hezbollah is likely to strike first in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed a senior Lebanese Shiite military commander in Beirut.
Then Iran is expected to join it with its own direct attack. In Israel, the attacks by Hezbollah and Iran are expected to be greater than those carried out by Tehran in April this year, when it avenged the death of two Iranian generals who were killed in an Israeli attack on the Syrian capital Damascus.
Gallant also hinted that Tehran was preparing for a larger attack during a visit to an Israeli forces unit on Sunday, when he said that Iran and Hezbollah “are threatening to harm us in a way that has never been done before in the past.”
“I hope they will change their minds and not start a war on additional fronts. We don’t want that, but we have to be ready,” Galant said.
