Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We’ll hit Back in seconds..
» Iran threat as Israel weighs revenge options » PM calls for calm in wake of missile attacks
IRAN has threatened to hit back “within seconds” if it comes under fire from Israel, amid fears of a wider conflict breaking out.
Israel’s war cabinet met for a fourth time over the crisis yesterday, thrashing out plans to avenge Iran’s weekend missile and drone onslaught.
Tehran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, said Israel will face a “resolute and hard response” if it goes ahead with another attack.
Referring to the delay before his country’s response to Israel’s April 1 Syria airstrike, which killed two of Tehran’s key generals among 13 dead, he said: “There will not be a 12 or 13 day gap between a Zionist regime move and Iran’s powerful response anymore.
“The Zionists must now reckon in seconds, not hours.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to let “calm heads prevail”.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “He reiterated the UK’S steadfast support for Israel’s security and for wider regional stability.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the UK for its rapid and robust support in the face of Iran’s reckless and dangerous attack on Saturday.
“The Prime Minister said Iran had badly miscalculated and was increasingly isolated on the global stage, with the G7 co-ordinating a diplomatic response. He stressed that significant escalation was in no one’s interest and would only deepen insecurity in the Middle East. This was a moment for calm heads to prevail.”
The spokesman added Mr Sunak told Mr Netanyahu he remained concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s deadly bombardment continues.
A young lad and an older man could be seen yesterday sitting in the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel’s bombing of Khan Younis in the south
Jerusalem will be in the hands of Muslims. We will celebrate Palestine liberation IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER,
of the Gaza Strip. Mapping experts say over half the city’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Several IDF soldiers were wounded in southern Lebanon on Monday as Hezbollah set off a pre-planted bomb, although it is not known if the troops were on a reconnaissance mission.
Sources say Israel wants to “hit Iran hard” in a way that is decisive, strategically advantageous and that will discourage Iran from retaliating.
Senior Tories including former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and ex-home Secretary Suella Braverman have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to outlaw Tehran’s Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
But Home Office minister Laura Farris said this would jeopardise lines of communication with Iran.
And former head of MI6 John Sawers said it was not necessary, adding: “I don’t think the professionals in the Government are calling for this. I think it’s more of a rhetorical position of people looking for something to do.”
Tehran has closed down its nuclear sites, according to the UN’S Rafael Grossi.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has enough fissile material for three bombs.
It added: “The Israeli government, and particularly PM Benjamin Netanyahu, views the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon as an existential threat given Israel’s small geographic size and the concentration of its population in a few cities.”
US President Joe Biden has been hosting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-sudani.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who turns 85 on Friday, recently wrote on X in Hebrew, saying: “Holy al-quds [the Arabic name for Jerusalem] will be in the hands of the Muslims, and the Muslim world will celebrate the liberation of Palestine.”