Iran-Israel Tit-For-Tat Heighten Tensions

Ishtiaq Ahmed 

London: After six days of pause, Israel retaliated to Iran’s drone missile attacks of the previous Saturday night.

Israel responded yesterday, at the dawn of Friday, April 19, by targeting the city of Isfahan.

The symbolism of hitting Isfahan will not be lost on many. It is home to the biggest nuclear research establishment in the country, with some 3,000 Iranian nuclear scientists. The city also houses the aerospace industry, and many of the drones used to attack Israel may have originated from there.
There are also unconfirmed reports of an attack on Tabriz, in the mountainous area to the northwest. This, too, would make military sense as Tabriz is home to some of the protected silos from which Iran’s Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 ballistic missiles are launched—exactly the weapons that were used in the mass drone and missile attack last weekend.
There are also unverified reports of explosions in Syria and Iraq. These may be linked or not.
The response from Iran to the Israeli retaliation thus far has been somewhat muted.
Maybe it does not see a need to react or, at least, to give the impression that is what it intends.

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/irans-drone-strike-hits-israel/

If this is true, then it should help to prevent further escalation. However, it is too early to predict what the Iranians may or may not do.

It is reported that the Israeli missiles, few in number compared to the Iranians, got through and landed on the intended targets, whereas a large percentage of the Iranian missiles were intercepted, and a few that did get through did very little damage.

Israel seems to be giving a clear warning to Iran: We can defend against whatever you may throw at us, but you have no capability to defend against what we may throw at you. Hence, you would be well advised to remain clear of us.

The background to the current Iran-Israel tit-for-tat scenario is Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, which has already killed 34,000 people and injured and displaced hundreds of thousands.

It is being suggested that the US and western diplomats were given prior  information by Israelis about their intention to attack Iran. This seems extremely plausible. We can’t see Israel not taking its principal backers in confidence.

Western commentators have alluded to the fact that Israel’s retaliation to Iran is bad for President Biden, who had advised Netanyahu, “Take it, don’t retaliate,” and enjoy the “victory,” meaning that the Iranian attack helped to open a way for Muslim countries like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the two key allies of the US in the Middle East, to diplomatically side with Israel against Iran.

Read Related: https://thepenpk.com/gazas-alleged-historical-irony/

 But Netanyahu has been ignoring Biden for some months now.  As it became more  obvious that Netanyahu was going to ignore western leaders, their diplomatic language began to shift to “don’t retaliate” and “minimize escalation”.

David Cameron, UK Foreign Secretary, was quoted on Tuesday after his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister: “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.” 

Americans, British, and French were quick off the mark to pledge their unreserved support for Israel against Iran.
Given this, the calls on Israel not to retaliate against some sounded extremely hollow and hypocritical. It seems that these calls were more for public consumption and lacked conviction.

Also, they were perhaps aimed at appeasing and securing diplomatic support for Israel from pro-America and West Muslim allies such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and given the recent flurry of diplomatic activities, maybe also Pakistan.

Iran attacked. Israel retaliated. The genocide in Gaza carries on. What next?