Israel launches over 100 'preemptive' air raids in Lebanon in one hour

The sources - a European diplomat, a European intelligence official and a U.S. official - said it was not clear why Iran did not supply launchers with the Fath-360 missiles, raising questions about when and if the weapons will be operational.

The U.S. official, who like the other sources spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran had not delivered the launchers at the time of the U.S. announcement about Iran's delivery of the weapons. The European intelligence official said without elaborating that they did not expect Iran to provide launchers.

Two experts told Reuters there could be several reasons why the launchers were not sent. One is that Russia may plan to modify trucks to carry the missiles, as Iran has done. Another is that by withholding the launchers, Iran is allowing space for new talks with Western powers on easing tensions.

The Russian defense ministry declined to comment.

The U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the Pentagon declined to comment.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tehran denies providing Moscow with the missiles or with thousands of drones that Kyiv and Western officials have said Russia uses against military targets and to destroy civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s electrical grid.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sept. 10 that Iran had delivered the Fath-360s to Russia and would “likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”

The missile would pose an additional challenge for Ukraine, which is constantly adapting its air defenses to innovations by Russian forces. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says the missile travels at four times the speed of sound when approaching targets.

Blinken said the missiles threatened European security and would be fired against short-range targets, allowing Russia to reserve more of its extensive arsenal for targets beyond the front lines. The Fath-360 has a range of up to 75 miles (121 km).

The United States, Germany, Britain and France imposed new sanctions on Iran, and the EU said the bloc was considering fresh measures targeting Iran's aviation sector.

The Kremlin at that time declined to confirm its receipt of the missiles but acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran included “the most sensitive areas.”

Blinken did not say how many Fath-360s Iran supplied to Russia or when they were sent.

Reuters determined through shipping data that a Russian freighter sanctioned by Washington, the Port Olya-3, made voyages between Iran’s Caspian Sea port of Amirabad and the Russian port of Olya several times between May and Sept. 12.

Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he could not confirm that Tehran withheld the launchers.

Ballistic missiles require specifically designed launchers in order to be fired.

According to Hinz, one reason Iran didn't send launchers may be that the civilian trucks that Iran modified to launch these and other missiles are not robust enough to operate in rough terrain during Ukraine's harsh winter. Iran modifies trucks made by Mercedes and other companies and turns them into easily disguised missile launchers, he said.

That suggests, he continued, that Russia could modify its own military-grade vehicles.

"A commercial, off-the-shelf Mercedes truck is just not that off-road capable," he said

David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, also could not say whether Iran delivered the launchers.

But he noted that Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and other Iranian officials will be meeting with European officials on the sidelines of next week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York to test the potential for diplomacy on Tehran’s nuclear program, regional tensions and other disputes.

“It could be that they (Iran) are holding back the launchers to provide a little space for these talks,” he said. “One can imagine that if there are Iranian missiles raining down (on Ukraine) there would be condemnation at the General Assembly.”

But he was skeptical of any progress, saying he doubted Iran would make the necessary compromises.

“The policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been to resist the unilateralism of the United States and generally the Western countries, who pursue their own excessive demands and continue their colonial policies in a new form. This will remain our policy moving forward,” Araghchi was quoted as saying by IRNA, the official government news website.

Araghchi, who was deeply involved in Iran’s nuclear talks with the West a decade ago and in 2021, was appointed foreign minister in the new government of President Masoud Pezeshkian in August. The President, during his election campaign and upon assuming office, referred to a policy of engagement with the West, initially raising hopes that Tehran might be willing to adopt a more pragmatic foreign policy.

Araghchi, condemning attacks against Tehran’s ally and proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah this week, made it clear that the Iranian delegation will focus on a diplomatic campaign against Jerusalem.

“In this situation, it is natural that the most important topic in our meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, as well as in the sessions held by the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, BRICS, ECO, and others, will be…the criminal actions of the Zionist regime, which must be confronted by the international community,” Araghchi stated. He went on to say that “It is natural that the crimes of the Zionist regime, especially those committed in the past few days, will be the main topic of these discussions.”

While the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah communication devices, which killed scores and seriously wounded hundreds of militiamen and commanders, has shocked the world, Tehran has so far refrained from issuing any specific threats against Israel. Additionally, more than 50 days after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran has not launched a military retaliatory strike, possibly indicating the government's reluctance to escalate the conflict further.

On Saturday, President Pezeshkian declared during a military parade that “Iran's defensive power and deterrence capabilities have grown to such a level that no evil force would even dare to entertain the thought of aggression against the country.” He was speaking during ceremonies on the 44th anniversary of Iraq’s invasion of Iran that led to a bloody and destructive 8-year war between the two countries.

However, his reference to Iran’s deterrence power contrasted with many incidents of bombings and sabotage since mid-2020 targeting Iran’s nuclear program and military and strategic installations, widely believed to have been launched by Israel. The latest incident was Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran while he was a high-level government guest. The incident led to debates even in government-controlled media in Tehran about serious security breaches and veiled accusations against security and intelligence organs.

In a message of condolence to Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, Araghchi said, "As I arrive in New York to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, I consider it my Islamic and humanitarian duty to be the resounding voice of justice for the heroic people of Palestine and Lebanon against the criminal and aggressive Zionist regime."

However, Araghchi, echoing other statements by other Iranian officials, indicated a cautious approach to the issue of responding to Israel. “Regarding Lebanon's issues, it is natural that Hezbollah will make its own decisions and respond appropriately. Other matters will be addressed as the situation requires. The assassination of martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran will not go unanswered.”

"Ibrahim Aqil and the Radwan commanders who were eliminated today were planning Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and kidnap and murder innocent civilians in a similar manner to the October 7 Massacre," it said in a post on X.

Hezbollah has yet to confirm the identities of those killed in the attack.

Aqil, Hezbollah's operational commander, was among the founding members of the group and was wanted by the United States for his alleged role in bombings of the US embassy in Beirut and a nearby marine corps barracks in 1983 which killed around 300 people.

At least 10 people were killed and nearly 60 others injured in the Israeli attack which leveled a building in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry announced.

The United States had maintained a bounty of up to $7 million on Aqil, whom the State Department said was a key member of Hezbollah’s predecessor organization Islamic Jihad.

Aqil also directed the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s, US authorities alleged.

His killing comes shortly after two days of suspected Israeli attacks on the communication devices of Hezbollah fighters beginning on Tuesday which killed over three dozen people on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Iran condemned the Friday air strike as an unlawful attack on civilians.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the Israeli madness and arrogance that crossed all boundaries by targeting residential areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of dozens, including children and women," the Iranian embassy in Beirut said in a post on X.

Hamas in a statement condemned Israel's air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut as “an escalation of Zionist aggression".

An Israeli air strike on the same area on July 30 killed Hezbollah's top military commander Fuad Shukr, who was also wanted by the United States for his role in the 1983 bombings and was viewed by Israel as a key deputy of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iranian authorities are gradually responding to two separate attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, allegedly carried out by Israel. They have condemned the incidents as acts of terrorism, vowed retaliation through the "Resistance Front," and called for enhanced security measures to prevent similar attacks against Islamic government targets in Iran.

President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a message of condolence to the Lebanese people Thursday on X for the “treacherous [act of] mass terrorism”.

The explosions in Lebanon that have so far claimed over two dozen lives and injured thousands are particularly alarming to the Islamic Republic whose nuclear facilities, scientists, and even a very high-profile foreign guest, Ismail Haniyeh, have been targeted by Israel in very complex operations over the years.

Reza Taghipour, a former communications minister, told the IRGC-linked Javan newspaper Thursday that the minimum takeaway from the past two days’ attacks in Lebanon for Iran is to use homegrown technologies or carry out standard physical, software, and electromagnetic tests to ensure cyber security if foreign-made devices have to be used.  

Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiations team in Vienna during Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency, has in several tweets since Tuesday warned Iranians about purchasing “Western, Taiwanese, Korean, or Japanese electronic devices, batteries, or other hi-tech products.”

“As we see in Lebanon, they can be weaponized against you and your loved ones,” he alleged in one of his posts. “The West is complicit. Western companies are untrustworthy, and their supply chains are suspect,” he tweeted Wednesday and warned about devices “produced in NATO or NATO affiliated regimes” in another post on the same day.

Iranian media also reported in the past two days that some Telegram channels that report military and security news allegedly affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, including a channel called Sepah-e 27 Mohammad Rasoulolah, have claimed that according to a Hezbollah official, the Lebanese group consulted with Iranian authorities when it decided to ban the use of mobile phones.

The said channel has alleged that Irancell, one of Iran's major mobile companies, Kambiz Mehdizadeh, former President Hassan Rouhani’s son-in-law, as well as Pezeshkian’s Vice-President, Mohammad-Reza Aref were recently involved in procuring pagers for the Hezbollah. This allegation, however, contradicts the timeline for the procurement of the pagers that are said to have been obtained several months ago, while Aref came to the political scene only in July.

The IRGC has so far neither confirmed nor rejected the affiliation of the said Telegram channel or commented on its allegations. Irancell, however, strongly rejected the reports of its involvement in the procurement of pagers for Hezbollah in a statement Wednesday.

After a speech on Thursday by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, during which Israeli fighter jets repeatedly broke the sound barrier over Beirut and bombed southern Lebanon, Iranian media published a message from Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami to Nasrallah.

Salami called the explosion of communication devices in Lebanon a “terrorist crime” and a sign of “desperation” and vowed a “crushing response by the Resistance Front” and “Israel’s total annihilation” soon.

These messages did not refer to the serious eye injuries of the Iranian envoy to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, sustained when his pager exploded in the first round of attacks on Tuesday.

Amani was transferred to Tehran by the Iranian Red Crescent Wednesday with a group of Lebanese wounded in the attacks and visited by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Thursday.

“The Iranian envoy in Lebanon is constantly in contact with Hezbollah. This is not new at all. All our ambassadors in Lebanon were in contact with Hezbollah regarding various matters so it is not strange,” foreign policy analyst Hassan Beheshtipour told Rouydad24 news website Thursday.

“In my opinion, instead of reciprocating [now], we should first find out the details and block the infiltration channels. One must be innovative when it comes to reaction, that is, we must be innovative in the same way that Israel has been. The easiest thing is not to retaliate quickly," he added.

The attacks widely blamed on their mutual foe ratchet up already flaring tensions across the Israeli-Lebanese border but appeared to stop short of heralding an imminent regional war.

"There is no doubt that we have been exposed to a major and unprecedented blow on the security and humanitarian levels," Nasrallah told supporters via video link from an undisclosed location.

"It can be called a declaration of war", Nasrallah added, vowing a "severe reckoning and just punishment".

Israel has not yet commented on any role in the back-to-back waves of attacks which hit pagers and walkie-talkies.

In the day before nationwide blasts hit pagers carried by Hezbollah members, Israel on Monday upgraded the aims of its nearly one-year-old war against the group's Palestinian allies Hamas to include returning the 60,000 citizens who have been evacuated from their homes due to Hezbollah fire.

'Complete destruction'

The chief of the Iran's transnational paramilitary organisation the IRGC also predicted on Thursday that the informal alliance of armed Islamist militias Iran leads throughout the region would punish the Jewish state.

"Soon we will witness the complete destruction of this cruel and criminal regime with the crushing response of the resistance front," Hossein Salami told Nasrallah on Thursday, Iranian state media reported.

Salami also visited Iran's ambassador to Lebanon in a Tehran hospital on Thursday where the envoy was taken after being stricken by the original blasts, in injuries the New York Times quoted IRGC sources as saying left him blind in one eye.

No retaliation yet

Since the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31 - an attack Iranian officials attribute to Israel - Tehran has pledged retaliation but has yet to land any blow.

Iran launched a large-scale missile and drone strike on Israel in April following a deadly Israeli attack on Iran's consular compound in Damascus.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday warned against escalation in the Middle East, after the US said it conveyed to Iran through back channels that it had no foreknowledge or hand in the attacks.

“We don’t want to see any escalatory actions by any party," Blinken said in remarks on a visit to Paris.

Hezbollah has long been Iran’s strongest ally in Lebanon and a central figure in its broader regional strategy.

The group was founded in the 1980s with direct Iranian assistance via the IRGC to fight Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah has grown into both a political force in Lebanon and a powerful militia that frequently engages in conflict with Israel.