Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut on Friday “will not go unanswered.”
Nilforoushan was killed by an Israeli airstrike alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Ali Karaki, the Iranian-backed terror group’s highest-ranking military commander.
“There is no doubt that this horrible crime committed by the Zionist regime [Israel] will not go unanswered,” said Araghchi in a statement addressed to IRGC chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, according to Reuters.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that the “axis of resistance,” which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and other terrorist groups across the Middle East, would avenge Nasrallah and Nilforoushan’s deaths.
“We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance,” the Iranian politician stated, adding that the United States “is complicit in all of these crimes and ... has to accept the repercussions.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif told state media on Sunday that the regime would retaliate against the Jewish state at a time of its choosing, according to Reuters.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Iranian officials are divided on how to respond to the assassination of their close ally, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying Hezbollah, not Tehran, would lead the response to the attack.
“It will be Hezbollah, at the helm of the resistance forces, that will determine the fate of the region,” said Khamenei, adding that “Lebanon will make the aggressor and the evil enemy regretful.”
The Times report, which cited four Iranian officials, including IRGC operatives, said that while some members of the country’s Supreme National Security Council supported a swift attack during a meeting on Friday, others opposed the proposal, believing that this would mean falling into a “trap” set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Others warned that an attack on the Jewish state could draw a response from the Israel Defense Forces, potentially damaging Iran’s vital infrastructure.
On Saturday, Khamenei was transferred to a location with heightened security, Reuters said over the weekend, citing two regional officials.
Also on Saturday, an Iranian plane heading for Beirut made a U-turn over Iraq on Saturday after the Israel Defense Forces warned air traffic control at Rafic Hariri International Airport not to grant it permission to land, a Lebanese government source told Reuters.
The source said it was not clear what or who was on the Qeshm Fars Air flight. Western intelligence sources have accused Tehran of using the airline to transport weapons to Hezbollah under the cover of civilian aviation.
