DUBAI, October 11. /TASS/. Israel would like nothing more than to see a full-on war between Iran and the United States but Tehran won't give it the satisfaction, General Hossein Daghighi, a top advisor to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said.
"A war between Iran and the United States is one of the long-cherished goals of the Zionist regime (Israel - TASS), but today, the Zionist regime is in a very weak and fragile state. A war on Iran is inadmissible and we reassure the Iranian people that the Islamic republic’s armed forces are strong and are keeping an ear to the ground," the Tasmin agency quoted him as saying.
"Security is a redline for Iran. The Zionist regime will inevitably be defeated and Iran will win," he stressed, adding that the October 1 missile attack on Israel has disabled Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. He warned that new attacks on Israel will be "more crushing."
Commenting on reports in the Western media about the "disappearance" of Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani after the Israeli attack on Beirut two weeks ago, Daghighi said, "Iran is a strong and powerful country and we must fend off enemy rumors and psychological warfare, and the mass media play an important and effective role in this." "His absence means that he is focused on implementing the duties of the Islamic republic’s armed forces," the general said.
Reuters reported on October 6, citing sources, that the Quds Force commander had been out of reach after Israel’ strikes on Beirut. According to the sources, Qaani reportedly set off for Lebanon following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
On October 1, Iran launched a massive missile attack against the Jewish state in response to the killing of senior officials from the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Lebanon-based Shia movement Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tehran said that 90% of the missiles hit their designated targets. Israel, in turn, said that Iran had fired some 180 missiles into the country, most of which were intercepted. The Israeli General Staff vowed to choose the right moment to surprise Iran with a counterattack, while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel would see even larger-scale strikes.