Israel threatens strike on Iran if attack launched from its territory

Israel’s foreign minister threatened a strike on Iran if Tehran launched an attack from its territory in response to Israel’s strike in on an Iranian embassy compond Syria last week that killed several generals and officers. 

“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will react and attack in Iran,” Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, wrote Wednesday in Farsi on X.

Katz’s threat comes amid escalating tension between the two nations after Israel’s deadly strike in Damascus last week, which killed 12 people who were in the Iranian embassy complex. Of those 12, seven were Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, one Hezbollah militia member and four were Syrians. 

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, once again promised to retaliate against Israel. 

“Consulates and embassies of any country are regarded as the soil of that country,” he said on Wednesday, according to Islamic Republic News Agency.  

“When they attack our consulate, it means that they have attacked our soil”, he continued. “The evil regime made a mistake and it should be punished and will be punished.”

Khamenei also criticized the West during the prayer marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He called out the U.S. and U.K. for their support of Israel in the country’s war against Hamas. 

Iran backs Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah among its proxies in the region. Hezbollah has exchanged multiple military strikes with Israel since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, which was set off following Hamas’ terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Israel has not taken public responsibility for the strike in Damascus last week, but four Israeli officials told The New York Times the country was involved in the attack.

The U.S. and Israel are bracing for Iran’s potential retaliation.