TEL AVIV: Iran could launch an attack on Israeli soil within the next 24 to 48 hours, the Wall Street Journal on Friday quoted a US official as saying, citing American intelligence reports.
Israel has been on high alert amid multiple threats and intelligence assessments that Iran would launch a strike on Israeli targets in a bid to avenge the April 1 airstrike on an Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which killed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, including two generals.
Both Tehran and Damascus have blamed Israel for the strike and vowed revenge, although Jerusalem has not commented on the matter, according to the Times of Israel report published today.
A US official with knowledge of the matter told WSJ that American intelligence reports now indicate an Iranian retaliatory strike within days, “possibly on Israeli soil” as opposed to Israeli interests elsewhere.
He said the strike could come within the next 24 to 48 hours and Israel was preparing for a possible strike on either southern or northern Israel.
However, the same report also quoted a person briefed by the Iranian leadership as saying that no final decision has been taken by Tehran.
According to the report, quoting an IRGC advisor, earlier in the week, the Guards provided Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with several options to strike Israeli interests.
It said that among the options was a direct attack on Israel with sophisticated medium-range missiles, he said.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
