While Israel is preparing for a potential Iranian attack in response to the bombing of its consulate in Damascus earlier this month, which resulted in the death of a senior general and six officers from the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" reported that Iran postponed a strike against Israel at the last moment due to a U.S. warning. This follows a revelation by a senior U.S. official earlier today stating that Washington has continued to exchange messages with Iranian authorities over the past week. The official clarified that the U.S. administration warned Tehran against launching an attack on Israel, as reported by CNN.
Additionally, it was disclosed that Iran warned the U.S. side against supporting Tel Aviv. The U.S. remains in a state of heightened vigilance in anticipation of any potential Iranian retaliation, despite these exchanges of messages. This comes as Tel Aviv expects imminent Iranian attacks in response to the strike on its consulate at the beginning of this month. Western expectations and intelligence assessments suggest that Iranian revenge may occur within the next few days, particularly after the conclusion of Eid al-Fitr.
Analysts speculate that Tehran may directly target military or government sites within Israel using missiles or suicide drones, rather than employing proxies. Notably, tensions between the two countries have reached unprecedented levels since the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced on April 1 the deaths of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zadeh, the commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, and his deputy Mohammad Hadi Rahimi, as well as five accompanying officers in an attack on the consulate. This attack has been described as a painful blow, possibly the most painful for Tehran since the assassination of former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad airport in 2020. This has led all Iranian officials at the highest levels of government to assert that retaliation is inevitable and to threaten that it will be painful.
