{"id":17535,"date":"2024-04-02T12:48:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T12:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/02\/iran-not-likely-to-retaliate-after-alleged-israeli-strike-not-ready\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T12:48:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T12:48:45","slug":"iran-not-likely-to-retaliate-after-alleged-israeli-strike-not-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/02\/iran-not-likely-to-retaliate-after-alleged-israeli-strike-not-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran not likely to retaliate after alleged Israeli strike: \u2018Not ready\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Iran is not likely to respond directly against the Jewish state but rather use its proxies to do the job, after a top commander of its Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus.<\/p>\n

\u2018Given the target and location of the strike \u2013 at a building adjacent to the consulate \u2014 I expect the Iranians to respond,\u2019\u00a0Bill Roggio, managing editor of Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is difficult to say how the Iranians respond,\u2019 Roggio said. \u2018The Iranians may try to target Israelis overseas, and may also leverage its militias \u2013 Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iraqi and Syria militias, to strike at targets within Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n

Roggio\u2019s comments come after Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior IRGC commander, was reportedly killed Monday in an air strike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, according to a report from Reuters.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s consulate was flattened in the strike, according to the report, which noted that Syrian and Iranian media had blamed the carnage on an Israeli air strike.<\/p>\n

Israel declined to comment on the apparent strike, Reuters reported, with an Israeli military spokesperson telling the outlet that it does \u2018not comment on reports in foreign media.\u2019 The strike, according to Iranian state television, also killed several Iranian diplomats.<\/p>\n

Israel has stepped up strikes in Syria and on Iranian-backed targets since the Hamas\u2019 attack on Israel in October, Reuters noted, hitting both Lebanon\u2019s Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror groups as well as IRGC targets.<\/p>\n

Yigal Carmon, a former adviser to two Israeli prime ministers on countering terrorism and founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), told Fox News Digital that, \u2018Khamenei\u2019s policies over the years reflect cowardice. The Iranian pattern of reaction is such that he escalates when he feels that the other side is afraid of him, and backs down when the other side shows deterrence.\u2019<\/p>\n

He continued, \u2018In the attack on an official Iranian government target in Damascus, Israel escalated against Iran, telling Iran that Israel will not continue with the proxy game so commonly played by Iran. The Israeli escalation was to serve as a warning: we are ready for battle with you, Iran, directly, at this time, even though we are at war in both Gaza and Lebanon.\u2019<\/p>\n

Carmon\u2019s said his assessment is that, \u2018Khamenei will not react to the Israeli escalation by escalating against an Israeli target BY IRAN ITSELF. Rather, he will continue with the proxy game, targeting Israel by the Houthis, Hezbollah and possibly by terrorists in the West. He does not need and is not ready for an all-out war with Israel at this time.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another expert on the region, Casey Babb, a\u00a0Fellow with the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and a Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, told Fox News Digital that the latest strike is an example of the Israeli military\u2019s significant reach.<\/p>\n

\u2018It signals to Israel\u2019s enemies \u2014 including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iran, and other hostile actors \u2014 that the reach of Israel is immeasurable. No one is safe,\u2019 Babb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Babb said that the strike will deal Iran a \u2018serious organizational blow\u2019 and disrupt the IRGC\u2019s ability to \u2018mobilize, plan, and carry out effective attacks\u2019 while also destabilizing \u2018the psyche of Iranian leadership and their proxies.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It makes them feel vulnerable, it makes them feel inferior, and crucially, it makes them question themselves,\u2019 Babb said. \u2018At the end of the day \u2013 all of these barbarians know their death warrants have been issued. This latest killing is just a reminder of that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Responding to the attack during a news conference, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said the U.S. did not have confirmation of the target or the responsible party, but noted the department\u2019s concern that the reported strike could be seen as \u2018escalatory\u2019 and potential \u2019cause an increase in conflict in the region.\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fox News\u2019 Trey Yingst reported Monday that Iran has vowed a \u2018swift, direct, and harsh\u2019 response to the apparent Israeli attack.<\/p>\n

However, Babb argued that Iran is unlikely to mount any sort of \u2018significant\u2019 response.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hezbollah, Iran, and other potential entities that could respond don\u2019t want a full scale war with Israel,\u2019 Babb said. \u2018They know they\u2019d be in ruins relatively fast \u2013 so they\u2019ll likely respond in some calibrated way \u2013 but not enough to trigger a full on military confrontation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Joe Truzman a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and an expert on Iran and its proxies, told Fox News Digital that while Iran has generally steered clear of a direct conflict with Israel and used its proxies to carry out attacks, \u2018The attack in Damascus specifically targeted high-ranking IRGC officers, as well as the Iranian consulate. As a result, Iran is likely to respond more forcefully to this incident compared to past attacks on its officers in Syria, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018This possible shift in tactics suggests that the conflict between Iran and Israel may be entering a new and potentially more dangerous phase,\u2019 he warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran is not likely to respond directly against the Jewish state but rather use its proxies to do the job, after a top commander of its Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. \u2018Given the target and location of the strike \u2013 at a building <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}