Publish Date: 12 August 2024 - 14:52

TEHRAN, Aug. 12 (MNA) – Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant says that the Tel Aviv regime is expecting a large-scale retaliatory attack from the Islamic Republic of Iran in response to the assassination of former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday that Iran was making preparations for a large-scale military attack on occupied Palestine, Reuters reported.

In a statement on Monday, the Israeli regime confirmed the call took place overnight. 

Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were martyred after their residence was targeted in Tehran on July 31, according to a statement released by the IRGC.

Issuing a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was "designed and implemented by the Zionist regime and supported by the criminal government of America."

Reacting to the Israeli act of terror, high-ranking Iranian officials vowed to give a proper response to the Zionist regime, with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei saying, that by assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli regime has prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself.

On Saturday, the political adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani took to X social media platform, formerly Twitter, to write that preparations have been made to severely punish a regime that only understands the language of force.

The sole goal of the Israeli regime in killing the worshipers of the Al-Tabin school in Gaza and assassinating the martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Iran is to seek war and make the ceasefire negotiations fail, Shamkhani wrote.

Preparations for severe punishment of the Israeli regime have been made following the legal, diplomatic, and media processes, he added.

MP/