Even as the attacks between the US and Iran halted after two days of strikes, there have been fresh rhetoric surfacing from both sides. Tehran warned Washington that it will strike Israel if its infrastructure is targeted again.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Council, said Israel will not be spared if the US attacks continue.
While the diplomats and mediating nations are scurrying to patch up the fragile ceasefire agreement, the latest remarks from the Iranian official raises concerns about pulling Israel back into the conflict.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz renewed threats that his nation is also ready to confront Iran if needed. The Israel military "is on alert and ready to renew the campaign, to reestablish aerial superiority, and to carry out a blue-white (Israeli) strike in Iran to remove threats, even for a third time," Katz told a military ceremony.
"If we will have to return, we will return with even greater force," he warned.
This comes as mysterious, unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran after the US said it has finished attacks on the Islamic Republic. Israel, which took part in the war, has not claimed any recent attacks on Iran. Israel's last strikes on Iran were in June.
While Iran's theocracy has not directly blamed anyone for the strikes, one lawmaker warned the UAE for allegedly backing the US in the war. Esmail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee and a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, warned the Emirates would "pay the price for its cooperation with the United States."
He accused the UAE of having a "behind-the-scenes" role in the recent US attacks.
