Iran says it must ‘punish’ Israel but claims it does not seek to escalate conflict

< According to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian officials said they will strike Israel even if it means all-out war.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran is necessary to “punish” Israel but denied that Iran seeks to escalate the conflict with Israel.

According to Reuters, Nasser Kanaani said retaliation was “necessary” to “prevent further instability.”

Although Israel has not taken responsibility for the assassination of Haniyeh, the Jewish State is assumed to have arranged the killing.

Yesterday, Iran announced that it rejected calls from World Leaders to dial down its threats against Israel.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian officials said they will strike Israel even if it means all-out war.

Foreign ministers in Lebanon and Jordan traveled to Iran to persuade Iran to back off from its threats.

However, Iran doubled down on threats and said it “didn’t care if it triggered war.”

Israel is preparing for an attack by Iran that may last several days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any attack would be met with a response and added that “the State of Israel is in a multi-front war against Iran’s axis of evil.”

Three US and Israeli officials told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Sunday that Iran may strike Israel as early as Monday.

Currently, Iran is looking for answers for the security breach that led to the killing of Haniyeh while he was staying in Tehran.

Esmail Qaani, the commander of the IRGC Quds force, is conducting an investigation and is identifying people to be fired, jailed, or executed for the breach.

The official said, “The breach has humiliated everyone.”

“The Supreme Leader has summoned all the commanders several times over the past two days; he wants answers,” he added.

The official concluded, “For him, addressing the security breach is now more important than seeking revenge.”

According to one report, the Mossad enlisted IRGC agents to plant the bomb in May when Haniyeh was attending the funeral of the former Iranian President.

At that time, there were too many people in the building to carry out the attack and instead, two agents apparently detonated the explosives remotely last week, killing Haniyeh.