Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said that the country will give a “teeth-crushing” response to Israel and the United States over attacks on Iran and its allies.
Khamenei was speaking during a meeting with students on Saturday, ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran. When he said, “The enemies, both the US and the Zionist regime (Israel), should know that they will definitely receive a teeth-breaking response for what they are doing against Iran and the resistance front,” he was quoted by CNN.
He said that the country was doing everything to prepare the “Iranian nation to stand against arrogance”, which was “military readiness, armaments or political” actions. He further added, “thank God, our officials are currently engaged in this”.
According to the Associated Press, Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials threatened to launch another strike against Israel after its October 26 attack on the Islamic Republic which targeted military bases as well as other locations, killing at least five people.
Israel for the first time admitted to hitting Iranian soil, which is a significant escalation of tensions, although Israel stopped short of hitting Iranian energy or nuclear facilities, reported CNN.
The supreme leader did not elaborate on the timing of the threatened attack, nor the scope, reported AP.
The US military operates on bases throughout the Middle East, with some troops now manning a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery in Israel. As per AP, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier likely is in the Arabian Sea, while Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said on Friday that more destroyers, fighter squadrons, tankers and B-52 long-range bombers would be coming to the region to deter Iran and its militant allies.
Early Sunday, the US military’s Central Command said B-52s from Minot Air Force Base’s 5th Bomb Wing arrived in the Middle East, without elaborating.
As per a CNN report, Iran has been mulling its response to the strikes, the news outlet’s source said, that the retaliation will be "definitive and painful" and is expected before the US presidential election.