New Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is fighting hardliners in the Islamic Republic to tone down the scale of Tehran’s promised strike against Israel over its alleged killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran last week, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported Friday.
According to the report, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is pushing for a missile attack on Tel Aviv and other cities — though with a focus on hitting military facilities to avoid civilian casualties.
But Pezeshkian, fearing all-out war with Israel, is pushing for Iran to instead hit alleged Mossad spy bases hidden around the region.
“Pezeshkian fears that any direct attack on Israel would have serious consequences,” a close aide to the Iranian president told The Telegraph.
“He mentioned that we were lucky that Iran did not go to an all-out war with Israel last time and maybe not this time,” the aide added, referring to the Iranian missile attack on Israel in April that was largely intercepted by a coalition of several countries.
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“He has suggested targeting somewhere related to Israel in the Republic of Azerbaijan or [Iraqi] Kurdistan and let these countries know before that and get done with the whole drama,” an aide told the paper.
Israel has warned it will retaliate strongly to any major attack.
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, third right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, second right, lead a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Iran has previously attacked such “spy bases” in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the report.
An IRGC official told The Telegraph that nobody in the organization, which is loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is paying much attention to Pezeshkian.
“The number one consideration is still striking Tel Aviv with Hezbollah and others at the same time,” the official said. “There has been discussion within the forces on how to block Mr. Pezeshkian’s efforts. Almost everyone believes what he is insisting on is not in the revolution’s reputation.”
The official added that during a recent meeting, Esmail Qaani, commander of the IRGC’s overseas Quds force, said: “If we do not respond today, they will become even ruder next time.”
Pezeshkian’s aide argued the IRGC’s opposition to the president’s stance was “more about undermining his week-long presidency rather than covering the humiliation they have suffered.”
Another aide to Pezeshkian said the president “does not feel humiliated as [the assassination] happened hours after he was sworn in.”
A woman walks past a huge billboard depicting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran’s Valiasr square on August 8, 2024. (AFP)
Others close to Pezeshkian alleged to The Telegraph that security around Haniyeh had been intentionally negligent so that Pezeshkian could be dragged into a war.
According to a New York Times report, Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for Pezeshkian’s inauguration, was assassinated by a bomb, planted weeks earlier, that was detonated inside his residence at an IRGC guesthouse.
Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for the bombing. Israel has not officially commented on the incident, though reports say the Mossad hired IRGC agents to plant the bomb.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have been high since the Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
The war has also seen a northern front between Israel and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy. Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
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