Iran has been keeping the U.S. and Israel on edge for two weeks now, EADaily writes. The hold-up before Tehran’s promised reprisal for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, continues.
The military-political leadership of the Islamic Republic announced immediately after the challenge posed by the Jewish state that a response would follow “at the right time”. The Iranians cannot delay the retaliatory action for too long; this is fraught with threats to their reputation. However, they are not into taking things to an uncontrollable escalation. Iran is strong, but not strong enough to avoid irreparable military damage. “Iran’s closest neighbors are overly worried. For example, the possibility of dragging the South Caucasus republics into an escalation is extremely low, but no one can give them reliable guarantees. As strange as it is, in this regard, the state of affairs in Armenia is better than in the other republics. Unlike Azerbaijan and Georgia, there is a permanent military presence of a nuclear power in its territory, which cannot but have a deterrent effect on some hotheads in the Greater Middle East,” the article stated.
At the same time, the long-standing close military-political ties between Azerbaijan and Israel have traditionally placed Iran’s northern neighbor at high risk in the event of any large-scale escalation in the region, which is now brewing.
