A scathing report recently revealed how the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leaked confidential information to the Zionist occupation regarding the agency's correspondence with Iran. The report, which corroborates past attempts at similar breaches of trust, came ahead of "Israel’s" unwarranted attacks on Iranian soil – targeting residential buildings, nuclear assets, and military infrastructure. Tehran’s resolve that retaliation for Zionist belligerence is inevitable should now be an eye-opener for "Israel" and the United States. “That [Zionist] regime should anticipate a severe punishment. By God’s grace, the powerful arm of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces won’t let them go unpunished,” remarked Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Leader, in his address.

First, the Zionist aggression is the gravest in decades, and lends an ironclad rationale to Tehran to muster its legitimate offense. In Tehran alone, over 100 people have been killed so far, and the attack demonstrates "Israel’s" blatant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a key state in the region. Dozens of enemy aircraft took aim at nearly 100 locations across Iran. This is terrorism – plain and simple.

By taking aim at civilians, Iranian nuclear scientists, and senior military officials, "Israel" wants to project destruction as the new normal to warrant more aggressive overreach in Iran. But those criminal ambitions could face a reality check as Iran races to line up successors to the martyrs, and clings to its calculated approach of waging an attack at a scale and frequency of its choosing. The broad aerial offensive launched by Iran on Friday was only a prelude to the actual capabilities that have "Israel" on edge. In war criminal Netanyahu’s own telling, Iran has “significant capabilities” to put the Zionist regime against the wall, and as an entity that initiated this atrocious terror campaign, "Israel" will meet a precise scale of destruction that is grounded in self-defense and consistent with international law.

The latter two considerations are chief to Iran’s push for a high-impact response. Alignment with international law makes it clear that Iran has every right to initiate actions that exact revenge for Zionist crimes, and serve as a measure to prevent Israeli belligerence. After all, war criminal Netanyahu has publicly touted that the so-called “Operation” will continue as long as necessary, indicating a desire to bolster Israeli bombardment and refuse to face the consequences. Iran is not short of strength at all: Iranian missiles can easily reach "Israel", and swift changes in the IRGC and armed forces’ top positions indicate preparedness for a declaration of war.

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The steadfastness of Iran is unmatched in recent history

The United States can claim all it wants that it had no role to play in the strikes, but even a cursory glance at recent history suggests the US and "Israel" have often operated in tandem. Iran is witness to US President Donald Trump’s blatant assertion that the Israeli terror strikes on Iran’s sovereign territory were “excellent,” while threatening Tehran that more attacks could be on their way. This is a clear admission that the US is cooperating with "Israel" to raise threat perceptions in the region, and provides a cover for Zionist terrorism to take on a new intensity.

But "Israel" is not operating in isolation. Tehran has the military, intelligence, and battle-hardened mindset to ensure costs are exacted on those who take civilian lives, critical infrastructure, national security interests and other key imperatives for granted. As has been witnessed throughout the years, Iran’s modus operandi is one of increasingly measured, precise and targeted self-defense attacks that deny terror entities – chiefly the genocidal Israeli regime – open space to dictate a climate of hostility in the Middle East.

This is precisely the reluctance that is irking the Zionist regime. It used the Gaza genocide as a pretext to attack Iran’s sovereignty, and now, as international criticism of "Israel’s" blatant war crimes reaches new highs, Netanyahu sees opportunism in waging aggression against Tehran.

What the Zionist regime fails to size up is that Tehran has officially declared "Israel’s" massacre campaign as a declaration of war, putting all bets off the table and shattering the veneer of US neutrality in the process. Trump’s blessings are crucial to Zionist aggression, whether through funding the illegal occupation, beefing up intelligence-sharing, coordinating on plausible deniability, or providing a shambolic diplomatic cover to shield Zionist atrocities. The loss of lives on Iranian soil, and the scale of nationwide bombardment, are due cause for a legitimate and principled war of self-defense from Iran. Any state that takes exceptions to responding in such a situation would do injustice to its people, its status as a state, and its role as a guarantor of peace and stability.

Given that "Israel" has used Palestinian oppression to prove its rejection of peace, humanity, and long-sought regional prosperity, Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on "Israel" give Israeli terrorism the pushback and counter that it truly deserves.