Iran's military chief on Sunday threatened to teach Israel "a very good lesson," a day after an Iranian oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Syria, killing three people onboard.
"Israelis think they can keep hitting Syria and make mischievous moves elsewhere and in the seas and not receive any response," Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Mohammed Hussein Baqeri said.
3 View gallery
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammed Hussein Baqeri speaking in Tehran, Feb. 2021
(Photo: AFP)
"The moves made in the past few days and future moves against their interests will make them be wise," he said.
"We don't announce anything about the incidents that happened recently, nor do we know who did it, but the resistance front will teach a very good lesson to Israel."
Baqeri also vowed that "if Israel's actions against Iran" continue, it's "not clear how Iran will respond, but the Zionist regime will not remain peaceful."
The warning came just one day after the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed an Iranian fuel tanker smuggling oil into Syria was struck in an attack off the port of Baniyas.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen reported that the tanker was attacked by Israeli aircraft.
Jerusalem and Tehran have both been reported to be locked in a covert maritime standoff in recent months amid a host of attacks on Israeli- and Iranian-owned vessels.
Washington recently informed Jerusalem of its displeasure over recent attacks against Iranian targets attributed to Israel, as well as what it called “boasting” by Israeli officials regarding these incidents, sources said.
3 View gallery
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on April 24, 2021, shows smoke billowing from a tanker off the coast of the western Syrian city of Baniyas
(Photo: AFP)
According to Syria's SANA news agency, the vessel was attacked Saturday with an alleged drone strike purportedly coming from over the Lebanese territorial waters.
The three people killed on the ship were said to be Syrian.
Baniyas, which is located roughly halfway between Tartus and Latakia on Syria's Mediterranean shores, is also home to one of the largest oil refineries in the country.
Multiple airstrikes targeting Iranian assets in Syria have been attributed to Israel, which has repeatedly warned it would not let the Islamic Republic entrench itself on Israel's northern borders.
Last week, the IDF said it attacked a missile launcher and air-defense systems in Syria after a Syrian surface-to-air missile exploded in the sky near Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor, showering areas near Dimona with debris.
i24NEWS contributed to this report