Iranian media says armed forces have prepared retaliation plan after US news outlets suggest potentially imminent US-Israeli attacks against civilian infrastructure
Tehran
Iran’s authorities have promised retaliation in case of threatened attacks by the United States against critical energy infrastructure, while military strikes continue across the region. “The United States is moving at an accelerating pace to fan the flames of a full-scale regional war,” Major General Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s wartime military command, said in a statement on Saturday.
Addressing regional neighbours, he said the US was using their capital, resources and infrastructure as a shield for its own interests while strengthening Israel’s war machine.
“It is hereby stated explicitly: Muslim countries must, with foresight, monitor America’s crimes and reconsider their cooperation and alignment with the US. Otherwise, any country that makes itself a defensive shield for criminal, aggressor America will burn in the fire of war,” said Abdollahi.
The warning comes in reaction to reports by major US media outlets that the US and Israel may be imminently launching an extensive wave of attacks against Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including power plants and petrochemical manufacturers.
President Donald Trump has yet to give final authorisation on an operation that could potentially last up to two weeks and aim to cut electricity across Iran’s capital, Tehran, and create disruptions across the country, the reports said, citing unnamed sources.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said earlier this week that US air defences have performed largely well, but persistent combat operations have reduced the inventory of missile interceptors in the US military’s arsenal, with Patriot inventories now under 1,000 and THAAD at about 250.
The Iranian state-linked Tasnim news website on Saturday cited an unnamed source as saying armed forces have prepared an extensive plan of retaliation to the “potential madness” of the US by hitting “vital infrastructure” linked with the US and Israel.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said “we very much want to strike Iran’s energy targets.
“The United States is not approving it at present, because of concern that Iran would strike neighbouring countries and there would be a global oil crisis,” he told a security conference broadcast by Channel 14, adding that Israel was ready to “set Iran back 40 years”.
Since the start of the war on February 28, the US and Israel have hit military bases and leaders across Iran, but also targeted the country’s civilian infrastructure, parts of which will require years and extensive investments to rebuild. The bombing has only exacerbated Iran’s internal woes, including a contracting economy and a major energy imbalance that are squeezing more than 90 million Iranians.
In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s regular army have launched ballistic missiles and drones at US and Israeli military bases across the region, but have also responded to energy attacks by striking energy infrastructure in Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
