It is well after midnight in the Iranian capital of Tehran and there are two significant developments that suggest an Iranian and Hezbollah major strike against Israel could come at any moment.
First, Iranian state TV is strongly signaling that an attack could come in the overnight and early morning hours of Friday/Saturday - which we should note also marks Jewish shabbat in Israel.
"In coming hours, the world will witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments," an Iranian state news anchor reported said. Iran International and other regional publications have highlighted the alarming clip as well.
While it is unlikely that a news anchor would be directly privy to such state secrets concerning the timing of a major strike on Israel from Iran, it does point to growing anticipation and belief among the Iranian population that retaliation is near.
It is also the case that following memorials and funerals in Tehran and Doha for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, he has finally been laid to rest, and Tehran might now be readying its response given that foreign dignitaries have now safely exited the country.
At the same time Israeli media has reported on another big development related to Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. "Hezbollah is evacuating its senior personnel from the terror group’s strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in anticipation of potential Israeli strikes, Arabic media sources reported Friday," writes Times of Israel.
"The Iran-backed group has also reportedly moved the military equipment it stored to areas further away from the Lebanese capital," the report adds.
An anonymous US official has also been cited as saying, "Tehran will take time to decide on the type of response it launches, and it will take time to prepare the response."
Any new attack in revenge for killing Haniyeh on Iranian soil is likely to come quicker, and be less predictable - given Iran feels pressure to up the escalation in order to establish greater deterrence.
Iran has continued putting Israel on notice, even crafting messages concerning Lebanon, warning against "full-scale military aggression" against Hezbollah, saying it will lead to "obliterating war" - according to a fresh statement the Islamic republic’s United Nations mission. "All options, [including] the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table," the mission wrote in a post on X late in the day Friday.
Finally, there is another breaking development: US Defense Secretary orders navy cruisers, destroyers and an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East, Pentagon says according to Reuters. This includes the following new readiness posture:
USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, currently in the Gulf of Oman
An additional fighter squadron to the Middle East
Additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Mediterranean and Gulf regions
Steps to ready deployment of additional land-based ballistic missile defenses
Will it be bombs away by morning?
Poster Comment:
Russia just sent several plane loads of new? weapons? to Iran.