Iran may blame Israel for bombings but Ayatollah Khamenei wants 'strategic patience': Report

As Iran reels under the aftermath of the twin bombings, which the country’s military and political leaders blamed on Israel, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is opting for 'strategic patience' to avoid getting into a direct military confrontation with the US at all costs, said a report.  

Khamenei has been more cautious and has ordered the military to limit retaliation to covert operations against Israel or proxy militia attacks on U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq, reported The New York Times quoting two unnamed sources familiar with Iran’s internal discussions.

Khamenei views the recent assassinations of an Iranian commander in Syria, the Hamas official in Beirut and the bombings as a coordinated campaign by Israel to distract from the international outrage over the war in Gaza, the report added.

Though Khamenei, in the statement blamed the attack on Iran’s "malicious and criminal enemies", he stopped short of naming any group or country. Khamenei said Iran’s enemies should know that "this tragedy will have a strong response."

However, the country's senior officials were quick to blame the bombings on Israel. According to The New York Times, the country’s military and political leaders quickly decided to hold Israel responsible for the bombings. Even if a terrorist or opposition group claims responsibility for the attacks, Iran would insist Israel had a hand in it. 

Both Iran’s president and the deputy head of Parliament hit out at Israel. "We tell the criminal America and Zionist regime that you will pay a very high price for the crimes you have committed and will regret it," said President Ebrahim Raisi. 

Deputy Parliament head Mojataba Zolnouri said that it was "clear from the style of the attacks that it is the Zionist regime and that the Islamic Republic holds the right to response, but will determine the time, date and place of revenge itself."

However, the US intelligence agencies believe early assessments hint that Israel was not involved. "It was also not in keeping with Israel’s usual methods when striking Iran," said Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at Crisis Group. Though Israel has carried out covert operations in Iran before, they are mostly focused against specific individuals, like Iranian scientists or officials, or at nuclear or weapons facilities.

Analysts said there were numerous possibilities for who might have attacked the cemetery, including Sunni Muslim terrorist organisations like the Islamic State or Iranian separatist groups.

Senior officials in the US President Joe Biden administration believe the explosions looked like a "terrorist attack" of the kind ISIS has been responsible for in the past. The official, speaking to reporters, said "it does look like a terror attack, the type of thing we've seen ISIS do in the past, and as far as we are aware that is kind of, I think, our going assumption at the moment."