The Iranian regime announced on April 16 that they will soon retaliate against Israel for their recent airstrikes against Syria.
According to the Times of Israel, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasem ominously declared that Israel “should not be able to take action and be exempt from punishment.”
“The Syrian and resistance forces will respond in a timely fashion and appropriately in the region,” Qasemi said.
Qasemi also lashed out at the United States for their airstrikes against Syria on April 13, claiming that the Iraq War in 2003 showed that the U.S. was willing to fabricate information to start wars.
Israel still has not directly stated they were the ones who had launched airstrikes against Syria on April 9, although an Israeli military official reportedly told New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that Israel did in fact launch the strikes.
“We will not allow Iranian consolidation in Syria,” Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on April 16. “We won’t allow any restriction when it comes to Israel’s security interests.”
This is the latest in escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, as on April 13 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that an Iranian drone that had penetrated Israeli airspace in February was laced with explosives and was set to attack Israel.
Iran seems to be becoming increasingly belligerent. According to the Washington Free Beacon, Iran will be flaunting more advanced ballistic missiles at a military parade on April 18.
“The range of the missile has doubled to fly 8 to 12km farther compared with the previous version and given the regional threats that we are facing, they can be highly effective in combats in short-range combat zones,” Iranian Airborne Commander Yousef Qorbani told Iranian media.
Iran has already entrenched itself in Syria, as the regime in Tehran has help prop up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and use Syria as a supply line to its terror proxy Hezbollah.
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told Fox News on April 15 that the Trump administration sees “Iran as a destabilizing factor.”
“Other administrations failed to do this in the past — look at Iran through the totality of its bad actions around the world,” Nauert said. “And we see that clear every single day in Syria, what they’re doing and the misery they’re causing.”
