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Reuters

US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed.
Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden said simply, “Don’t,” and he underscored Washington’s commitment to defend Israel.
“We are devoted to the defence of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said.
Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later”. He spoke to reporters at the White House after a virtual speech to a civil rights conference

Israel on Friday braced for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of retaliation for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Damascus.
Countries including India, France, Poland and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the threat from Iran was real and viable.
The US also rushed warships into position to protect Israel and American forces in the region, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The moves by the US that are part of an effort to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East came after a warning from a person familiar with the matter about the timing and location of the potential Iranian attack, the newspaper said.
However, a person briefed by the Iranian leadership said that while plans to attack are being discussed, no final decision has been made, the Journal said.
The Israeli military said it had not issued fresh instructions to civilians, but asked people to remain vigilant.
“Over the past day, the military has conducted a situational assessment and approved plans for a range of scenarios following reports and statements on an Iranian attack,” chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement on Friday.
In Wang-Blinken call, China urges US to play constructive Middle East role
Israel’s foreign ministry did not comment on reports that some Israeli diplomatic missions had been partially evacuated and security stepped up.
“The revenge will come,” wrote Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. “For the moment, the premise is that it will be very soon, in the next few days.”
Israel did not claim responsibility for the air strike on April 1 that killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas Quds Force, and six other officers as they attended a meeting in the Damascus embassy compound.
But Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel “must be punished and shall be” for an operation he said was equivalent to an attack on Iranian soil.

“It’s going to be very difficult for Iran not to retaliate,” said Raz Zimmt, senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
“I still believe that Iran doesn’t want to engage in full-scale, direct military confrontation against Israel, and certainly not with the United States. But it has to do something.”
On Friday, both Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and army chief General Herzi Halevi had meetings with the visiting head of US Central Command General Michael Kurilla to coordinate a possible response.
Iranian sources and diplomats from the United States, Israel’s main protector, say Tehran has signalled to Washington that it wishes to avoid escalation and will not act hastily.
But the risk remains that any response might spin out of control.
Blinken asks China, others to rein in Iran on Israel
Since Iran viewed the embassy attack as equivalent to an attack on its own territory, Zimmt said a direct attack on Israeli soil by Iran itself rather than a proxy such as Hezbollah in Lebanon was a real possibility.
Iran has missiles capable of hitting Israel directly and in recent weeks, Israel has bolstered its air defences, which have intercepted thousands of rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza and by Hezbollah from Lebanon.
The Israeli military has called back reservists in preparation for any escalation along its northern border, where it exchanges fire almost daily with Hezbollah.

Late on Friday, it said around 40 rocket launches were identified crossing into Israel from Lebanon, most of which were intercepted with the remainder falling on open ground without causing any injuries.
The army has pulled most of its troops and armoured vehicles out of Gaza.
Ministers said the move was in advance of a long-promised assault on the city of Rafah, where thousands of Hamas fighters are believed to be dug in beside more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza.
In Israel, although there have been no formal security instructions, some parents said their children had been told to take books home for the Passover school holidays in preparation for possible lesson disruptions.


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Israel-Gaza war

Joe Biden warns Iran against hitting Israel over embassy strike

Iranians attend the annual Quds Day commemorations and the funeral in Tehran on April 5 of seven Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria. Photo: TNS

US President Joe Biden delivers virtual remarks from the White House on Friday. Photo: Reuters

A cyclist passes an anti-Israel hoarding in Tehran, Iran, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

People attend the funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, on April 5 for seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria. Photo: TNS

Iran aims to contain fallout in Israel response, won’t be hasty: sources

A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in the April 1 strike. Photo: AFP


The aftermath of a strike that hit an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, Syria on April 1. Photo: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting an airbase on Thursday. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa

US sees missile strike on Israel by Iran, proxies as imminent

A funeral procession for seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria last week. Photo: AFP

The aftermath of an attack on Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus last week. Photo: Reuters

Iran tells US to ‘step aside’ as it readies response to Israel over Syria strike

Demonstrators burn US and Israeli flags during the funeral for seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria in Tehran on Friday. Photo: AFP

Mourners try on Friday to touch the flag-draped coffins of Revolutionary Guard members killed in an air strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria. Photo: AP

Hezbollah supporters raise their fists and cheer, as they listen to a speech by the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking via video link in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday. Photo: AP

Israeli settlers kill 1 Palestinian, wound 25, in West Bank rampage

People transport a man wounded in an Israeli settler attack on the village of al-Mughayyir to a hospital in Ramallah, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Palestinians inspect the shattered vehicle of Mohammed Daraghmeh, a local Hamas commander who was killed in a shoot-out with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Tamoun on Friday. Photo: AP

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World

Middle East

The US president says he expects a retaliatory attack could come ‘sooner, rather than later’
Tehran views the strike as equivalent to an attack on its own territory, so a direct response on Israeli soil by Iran itself is a serious possibility


The US president says he expects a retaliatory attack could come ‘sooner, rather than later’.


Joe Biden warns Iran against hitting Israel over embassy strike

The US president says he expects a retaliatory attack could come ‘sooner, rather than later’ Tehran views the strike as equivalent to an attack on its own territory, so a direct response on Israeli soil by Iran itself is a serious possibility

The US president says he expects a retaliatory attack could come ‘sooner, rather than later’

Tehran views the strike as equivalent to an attack on its own territory, so a direct response on Israeli soil by Iran itself is a serious possibility