Likely not for today btw, just a note.

— 🇫🇷/🇮🇱 NEW: The Paris Commercial Court has reversed a French government ban on Israeli defense firms at the 'Euronaval' arms exhibition in November, ordering organizers to allow their participation.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— ❗️🇮🇷/🇮🇱 Director of the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran: 'Our response to the Zionist regime will be crushing and painful'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷 Initially, many media and politicians inside Iran, mostly affiliated with the Reformists and the Pezeshkian government, tried to downplay the Israeli attack and urge for restraint.

Two days after the attack however, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stated: 'The Israeli attack must neither be exaggerated nor downplayed. The military must decide on an appropriate response.' Since then, the narrative has completely shifted, and a strong response seems almost certain.

This echos a similar experience after the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran, when it was President Masoud Pezeshkian that wanted to avoid retaliation, but the Supreme Leader forced his hand, after the United States failed to abide by their promise of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇶 NEW: A federal case against military contractor 'CACI,' accused of contributing to the torture of Iraqi detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, resumed this week

Plaintiffs allege that CACI's interrogation services facilitated the abuse by American soldiers.

The trial, expected to last four to five days, follows 16 years of legal disputes and over 20 attempts by CACI to dismiss the case.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇵🇸/🇮🇱 NEW: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned Israel’s attitude towards the press and its attacks on media professionals in the wake of the war on Gaza.

They say at least 146 journalists have been killed since October 2023, which they call to be one of the bloodiest periods in the history of journalism.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇮🇶/🇺🇸 NEW: 'Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, using a large amount of drones and ballistic missiles' – Axios

@Middle_East_Spectator

— I highly doubt this:

1. First of all, Iran was attacked on Iranian territory by Israel itself, so the response will come from Iran, and it will be directly on Israeli territory. Iran even responded directly against Israel when Israel targeted the Iranian Embassy in Syria. Iran could have easily chosen to target Israeli assets abroad, but they decided to strike Israel itself, from Iran, with Iranian missiles. If they did it back then, when Iran was not even directly attacked, then they'll definitely do it now.

2. Second of all, it's not like Iran has missile bases or military bases inside Iraq. Saying that 'Iran will attack Israel from Iraqi territory' implies that it will be Iraqi militias doing it. This is not feasible, as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq does not have enough ballistic missiles and drones to launch a major attack against Israel simultaneously. They could launch probably a few dozen at once, but nothing more. And it will be easy to intercept. It would likely also instantly exhaust the majority of their current stockpile.

3. Third, it seems to me that the Israelis are publishing this in order to signal to Iran that this is a type of response they'll allow to go unpunished. Barak Ravid, the Israeli journalist who wrote the article, is basically telling Iran; 'attack us from Iraq, and we won't strike back', in the hopes that Iran will avoid a direct strike on Israel.

All in all, I think it's extremely unlikely for the response to come from Iraq. It's possible that the Iraqi Resistance is planning their own attack, but this would be seperate and independent from Iran's response.

@Middle_East_Spectator

Like bro, Iran DIRECTLY struck Israel after the Damascus embassy attack, and after Ismael Haniyeh's assassination. Do they really think Iran will suddenly use its 'proxies'?

This time, Iranian territory was attacked on a large scale, and 5 Iranians died, including 4 members of the army. The Israelis are either dumb, naive, desperate, or all three at once.

Brian, I know you made this up. The Pentagon did not say this.

Don't do this again Brian.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇩🇪 UPDATE: Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the German Chargé d'Affaires to express its condemnations of Germany's decision to close Iranian consulates in the country.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— ❗️🇮🇷/🇮🇱 NEW: 'Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has ordered an attack on Israel' – New York Times

@Middle_East_Spectator

— Keep in mind to take Western news outlets with a huge pinch of salt.

It's probably true, but the New York Times has no 'informed Iranian sources'. That's all BS. They're just guessing.