Iran’s missile strikes a warning to many abroad
‘Terrorist’ targets hit in Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria
After hitting targets in neighboring Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria with missiles, Iran talked tough Wednesday, playing up — to friends and foes alike — not only its military capabilities but its determination to strike enemies at will.
“We are a missile power in the world,” Iran’s defense minister, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting, according to state media. “Wherever they want to threaten the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will react, and this reaction will definitely be proportionate, tough, and decisive.”
Iran’s show of strength was meant to reassure conservatives domestically and militant allies abroad, and to warn Israel, the United States, and terrorist groups that Iran will strike back if attacked, according to two Iranians affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard who were familiar with the planning, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Supporters of Iran’s authoritarian clerical regime have been incensed by recent attacks on Iran that made it appear vulnerable, demanding a powerful response.
Yet for all the missiles launched and all the belligerent words, Iran once again appeared to stop short of a major escalation that might further inflame an intensifying regional conflict centered on the war between an Iranian-backed armed group, Hamas, and Iran’s regional archenemy, Israel. Analysts say Iran wanted the attacks to be measured, flexing its muscles without getting into a direct fight with Israel, the United States, or their allies.
By Tuesday morning, murals and banners appeared around Tehran, the capital of Iran, praising the missile attacks and vowing vengeance against Iran’s enemies. At Palestine Square, a mural on a building depicted a missile being fired, with a caption warning in Hebrew and Persian, “Prepare your coffins.”
Some conservative Iranians celebrated the missile strikes as a defiant warning to regional enemies.
“The message was clear,” Ruhollah Ahmadzadeh Kermani, an analyst in Tehran, said Tuesday on social media. “The Islamic Republic is right next to your ear. If Israel’s fake regime makes a strategic mistake, it won’t see the next 25 days, not 25 months or years.”
Iran fired missiles into three countries that are, to varying degrees, friendly to it: Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan. That makes military retaliation unlikely, though the attacks ruffled feathers — Iraq and Pakistan both recalled their ambassadors to Tehran, and Pakistan barred Iran’s ambassador, who was abroad, from reentering the country.
According to Iran, the attack in Syria targeted the Islamic State group; the one in Pakistan struck another terrorist group, Jaish al-Adl; and the one in Iraq, in the northern Kurdish region, was aimed at what Tehran says is an Israeli base for intelligence gathering.
In the past, Iran has often lashed out at its enemies by proxy, relying on the armed groups it funds and supports — including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the Houthis in Yemen — and sometimes disavowing any involvement in attacks.
But this week, Iran acted on its own and announced its actions, publicly framing the missile strikes as vengeance. It said it had attacked targets connected to major terrorist attacks, including one this month that was the country’s deadliest ever. It also said it was retaliating for the assassinations last month of two senior Iranian commanders in Syria, for which Iran has blamed Israel.
General Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard aerospace forces who commanded the Iranian attacks, said on state television Tuesday that Israel’s covert attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities were planned. Iran has also accused Israel of involvement in a recent attack by the Islamic State.