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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami has warned the US and Israel of an Iranian retaliation. (Image: Reuters)
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Cairo late on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian officials, the first such visit in years as part of a Middle Eastern tour
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami has warned of further retaliation against Israel if it attacks Iranian targets, which the Jewish country has promised to do after Tehran’s missile attack on October 1.
“If you make a mistake and attack our targets, whether in the region or in Iran, we will strike you again painfully,” Salami said at the funeral of a Guards general killed in an Israeli strike alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon last month. The top Iranian military commander was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.
Spiralling conflict
Tensions are high in anticipation of the nature of an expected Israeli attack on Iran in retaliation for Iran’s missile attack on Oct. 1. That followed a rapidly spiralling conflict between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. US officials expect Israel will retaliate against Iran for its attack earlier this month before November 5, CNN reported citing unnamed sources.
“The timeline and parameters of Israel’s retaliation against Iran have been subject to intense debate inside Israel’s government and are not directly related to the timing of the US election. Still, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu appears highly sensitive to any potential political ramifications of Israel’s actions in the US,” the sources said.
Middle Eastern tour
Salami’s warning came as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Cairo late on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian officials, the first such visit in years as part of a Middle Eastern tour amid concerns of a wider confrontation in the region with Israel.
Araqchi arrived for “important talks with Egypt’s high ranking officials that will be held tomorrow [Thursday],” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a post on X on Wednesday, after stops in countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Lebanon.
Relations between Egypt and Iran have generally been fraught in recent decades but the two countries have stepped up high-level diplomatic contacts since the eruption of the Gaza crisis last year as Egypt tried to play a mediating role. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty traveled to Tehran in July to attend the country’s presidential inauguration.
(With agency inputs)
