'Discourse of destruction': Iran expert says Iranian retaliation guaranteed

Benny Sabati, an Iran researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, said that an Iranian military response to the Israeli strikes in Iran was guaranteed in a recent interview with Maariv.

“If two or three weeks after our attack we heard public responses such as ‘nothing happened, minimal damage,’ it seems now the Iranians are assessing the damage and realizing there was indeed something significant,” Sabati said.

“The level of the threats Israel has been receiving in recent days is rising,” he explained. “Initially, it started with low-level parliament members, but now it has reached the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps generals. The level of threats is rising very fast. In Iran, they are saying they will prepare a response that Israel can't withstand, that Israel will be defeated. The discourse of destruction is returning, and they are speaking as if the state is on the brink of collapse.”

“In terms of a response,” Sabati assured, “there is no doubt there will be a response. There is no way the Iranians will allow themselves not to respond.

Iran's new strategy

"Since yesterday afternoon, because Europe is also siding with Israel and the United States, of course, there is something new that I did not expect that came out of nowhere,” Sabati continued. The supreme leader’s advisor came out and said – due to Israel’s actions, we may change our nuclear policy, meaning moving towards nuclear weapons, which is not technically feasible in days and is not realistic."

“He also said something we haven’t heard for a long time – we have restrained ourselves from extending the missile range to Europe, and now we might do it."

"Iran is trying to create a new dynamic where others might come to restrain Israel. It’s like taking someone hostage: they are threatening Europe so that Europe will pressure us.”