Khamenei warns Israel, US of 'striking response' for actions against Iran | Israel attacks Lebanon News

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Israel and the United States of a “repressive response” to actions against Iran and its allies, according to state media.

Khamenei, 85, said this on Saturday while speaking to students ahead of a commemoration of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran by hard-line students – which intensified the decades-long enmity between Tehran and Washington that continues to this day.

“The enemies, whether it is the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a painful response to what they are doing in Iran and the Iranian country and the opposition groups,” Khamenei said in the capital, Tehran, referring to it as well. Armed groups aligned with Iran include Yemen's Houthis, Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.

The supreme leader did not elaborate on the timing of any attack, or the scope.

He has previously taken a cautious approach, saying officials would measure Iran's response and that Israel's attack “should not be exaggerated or downplayed”, after the Israeli military launched strikes last week on Iranian military bases, hitting around 20 sites in a few hours. – Iran. Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran.

Israel said the strikes were in response to attacks by “Iran and its proxies”.

Khamenei on Saturday met with university students to celebrate Students' Day, which commemorates the November 4, 1978 incident, when Iranian soldiers opened fire on students protesting the shah's rule at Tehran University.

The crowd greeted Khamenei with great cheers, chanting, “The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader!”

Risk of further escalation

Israel said its airstrikes on Iran on October 26 were in retaliation for a major missile attack on Tehran on October 1.

Iran's attack, which included about 200 missiles, was launched after an Israeli attack in previous months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian soldiers.

Israel has warned Iran of retaliation, and Tehran, saying it does not want war, has promised to respond.

“If Iran makes the mistake of launching another range of missiles at Israel, we will also know how to reach Iran … and hit hard,” Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said earlier this week, adding that he had put aside ” because we may have to do this again”.

Any further attacks from either side risk the region – which has been left reeling from Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon – becoming a regional conflict, just days before the US presidential election on Tuesday.

The US military operates throughout the Middle East, and other militaries now operate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery in Israel.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “ordered the deployment of guided-missile destroyers, military and tanker aircraft, and several US Air Force B-52 bombers to the region,” Pentagon spokesman Major-General Pat Ryder said on Friday. .

Austin “continues to make clear that if Iran, its allies, or its proxies use this time to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take all necessary measures to protect our people”, Ryder said in a statement.