Deputy Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ali Fadavi, said that his forces are ready to bomb Haifa in occupied Palestine with missiles if necessary.
For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian reassured the leaders of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements of continued Iranian support, at a time when Iranian political activists criticized their government’s policy of shaking regional stability.
Tasmin Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, quoted Fadavi as telling a group of Tehran University students: “Some of you see practical action as a direct missile strike on Haifa. Of course, if necessary, this will be done without hesitation.”
He implicitly referred to the United States’ announcement that it shot down missiles launched by the pro-Iranian Houthi group in the Red Sea, saying that missiles with a range of two thousand kilometers were launched.
Iran warned Israel, in a message through the United Nations on Oct. 14, that it would intervene if the military operation in Gaza continued.
Abdollahian made two separate phone calls on Monday evening to the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and Ziad Nakhalah, the Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad.
In a statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Abdollahian briefed the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad on “the latest Iranian diplomatic measures and movements at the international level”. He stressed “the necessity of stopping the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip, including women and children, as well as opening the Rafah crossing, sending humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and confronting their forced displacement.”
Reuters quoted a Hamas statement as saying that Haniyeh received a phone call from Abdollahian, and they discussed ways to stop “Israeli brutal crimes” in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh, for his part, warned of a major humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to the shortage of medicines and the breakdown of electricity generators in hospitals.
Iranian security officials told Reuters that Iran’s strategy is for its proxies in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah, to launch limited attacks on Israeli and US targets while avoiding a major escalation that would drag Tehran into the conflict.
Iranians fear serious repercussions of the war between Hamas and Israel on the Iranian interior, including a direct military confrontation between Tel Aviv and Tehran.
A group of Iranian political activists from across the political spectrum issued a statement condemning calls for a military attack on Iran.
The statement criticized Iran’s “defense of fundamentalist and extremist groups,” including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, saying that Iran’s “policies of inciting tension and proxy wars” constitute a threat to security and peace.
