Khamenei Ups the Ante

Khamenei Ups the Ante

Robert Spencer

Is Iran going to strike hard at Israel, or not? At this point, it’s anybody’s guess.

Ever since Hamas top dog Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in a high-security Tehran guesthouse for visiting foreign dignitaries on July 31, the world has been holding its breath waiting for a massive blow against Israel from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Just hours after Haniyeh was killed, Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, ordered what the New York Post called “a direct strike” on Israel. It looked as if he was readying Iran for a much, much larger war: Khamenei also ordered Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders, along with Iran’s army, to “get ready an attack and defensive plans in case the conflict widens with either strikes from Israel or the United States hitting the country.”

Then on Aug. 2, Khamenei pinnedan X post dating ominously from Oct. 3, 2023, four days before Hamas’ massacre of 1,200 Israelis, to the top of his Persian-language X account. It read: “The Zionist regime is about to go.” Yet nothing happened. On Aug. 2, Iranian state TV announced that “in the coming hours, the world will witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments.” Again, nothing happened.

Khamenei hasn’t given up on his hope of delivering a major blow to the Jewish state. He is now even claiming that Allah will be angry if Iran doesn’t hit Israel.

So will Iran strike Israel now? Khamenei appears to be trying to foreclose upon any possibility that it will not do so, and put an end to dissent from internal voices who are urging a more prudent response. The Supreme Leader seems determined to challenge not only Israel, but also the United States, despite Iran’s obvious disadvantages in any actual conflict between the two.

He declared: “Governments that yield to the demands of today’s dominant powers, regardless of the size or strength of the nations they represent, could defy these pressures if they draw on the strength of their people and accurately assess their adversaries’ true, unembellished capabilities.” His point is obvious: Iran is stronger than it seems to be, and America is likewise weaker than it looks.

Clearly Khamenei, for whatever reason, is itching for a military confrontation with the U.S. In a nationally televised address on Nov. 1, 2023, he explained that destroying America was a primary goal of his regime: “The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant ‘Death to America!’ it is not just a slogan – it is a policy. 

 I have stated the reasons previously. For many years, from the 1940s to the 1970s – that is 30 years – the Americans did everything they could do against the Iranian nation. They hit Iran in any way they could – financially, economically, politically, scientifically, and morally.” Khamenei made it unmistakable: he was determined to hit back.

One of the chief reasons for this, he explained, was that America was allied with Israel: “If it were not for America’s support, if it were not for the support of U.S. weapons, the corrupt and artificial Zionist regime would have been destroyed in the first week. It would have collapsed. The Americans are behind this.”