How will Iran respond to Israel's attack on its embassy in Damascus?
An Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria has escalated tensions to unprecedented levels, increasing already high concerns about a potential regional conflict between Iran and Israel.
While Israel has previously targeted and assassinated Iranian generals in Syria within informal compounds, this time it has taken the covert conflict into overt warfare with Iran by striking the embassy, killing commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and other senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed a decisive retaliation, warning Israel that it will regret the attack.
Iran's approach in confronting Israel's aggression has been characterised by restraint, until now. However, Tehran is now facing both increasing domestic pressure to respond, given the significance of the strike, and the dilemma of how to retaliate without risking an all-out war with Israel and yet maintaining its image of deterrence.
"Iran has thus far refrained from direct retaliation, fearing it would escalate into a broader conflict involving the US, precisely what Tel Aviv desires. Iran is cognisant of this and is wary of falling into [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu's trap," a reformist analyst told Middle East Eye, on condition of anonymity.
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