CIA 'warns Iran will attack Israel within 48 hours' as revenge for consulate strike
US Intelligence officials have branded Israel's strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria as "reckless" and fear a wider war in the Middle East.
The CIA has warned Israel that Iran will attack the country in the next 48 hours, it has been reported.
Israel killed two Iranian military commanders with a strike on Tehran's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus this week.
Iran vowed that it would take revenge for the attack, and now foreign media is reporting that US intelligence is fearful of an attack on Israel.
Iran is said to be planning a combined attack with a "rain" of drones and missiles fired from its bases at strategic locations inside Israel, according to Al Mayadeen.
This comes after US officials raised fears that the Israeli strike could lead to a wider war in the Middle East.
READ MORE: Iran warned US 'will not hesitate' to strike back after retaliation threat
Ralph Goff, a former senior CIA official who operated in the Middle East, said Israel's strike was "reckless" adding that “it will only result in escalation by Iran and its proxies.”
Speaking to the New York Times, he added that Israel is trying to hit the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to "punish them for ongoing plots to kill or kidnap Israeli Jews around the world."
Former US Central Command chief and retired four-star general Kenneth F. McKenzie warned the attack was a "blow" for Iran.
He also said “Iran’s options to hit Israel are very, very limited,” and “the Israelis aren’t going to back down.”
Dana Stroul, the Pentagon’s former top Middle East policy official, warned the strike was a “significant escalation and risks tipping an already volatile, unstable region into full-scale war.”
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She continued: “The question is, will Iran respond in a manner that deescalates the situation, or will it climb further up the escalation ladder?
"[The strike] should have strategic effect on how the Quds Force operates abroad and should erode any semblance of invincibility or deniability that this terrorist organization only brings instability and violence to the places it seeks to operate."
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said after the attack: “After repeated defeats and failures against the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put blind assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself."
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei added: “The evil Zionist regime will be punished at the hands of our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and the other ones."
