The U.S. has expressed fears that Iran will strike Israel in retaliation for an alleged Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened Wednesday that forces would respond to any direct Iranian attack.
“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” he wrote in a post on X.
Iran is vowing to attack Israel after an alleged Israeli strike earlier this month on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which killed 12 people, including two top commanders.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday in a speech marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that attacks on embassies are regarded as an assault on a nation’s soil.
“The evil regime made a mistake and it should be punished and will be punished,” he said, according to state-run media.
The U.S. believes that Iran may strike Israeli military and government sites with drones or missiles, and the attack could be imminent, according to Bloomberg.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters this week that the U.S. was watching Iran’s public statements.
“America’s support for Israel’s security is ironclad and America’s support for Israel’s defense against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” he said.
The tensions come as the negotiators are trying to reach another cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, where Israel is fighting against the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The talks ran into trouble Wednesday when Hamas told negotiators it does not have 40 hostages to release as part of the deal.
Basem Naim, Hamas’s director of international relations, told The Hill that he does not have information on the number of hostages but was working on responding to the latest negotiations.
Amid the negotiations, the top political leader for Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed he lost three sons and three grandchildren in an Israeli strike.
“If they think that targeting my children at the peak of these talks before the movement’s [Hamas’s] response is submitted will cause Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional,” Haniyeh told Al Jazeera.
