(28 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 28 October 2024
++STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++
SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Gambrell, AP’s news director for the Gulf and Iran:
"Iran is weighing how to respond to Israel’s attack this weekend that targeted military bases and other locations in Iran, killing at least five people. One notable thing so far has been basically the uniformity in what we’re hearing from Iranian officials all the way to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. None are calling for a direct, immediate retaliatory strike against Israel. That doesn’t mean that a strike couldn’t happen. We’ve already seen Iran launch ballistic missiles twice as the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon continues. Iran already has felt like it’s in a corner. We’ve seen Hamas, which Iran has armed, basically decimated. Most of its top leadership killed in the ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip that’s also killed over 43,000 Palestinians since the war began. We’ve also seen Hezbollah in Lebanon lose its top leader, as well as suffer casualties. So Iran is feeling battered in because it’s long relied on these militant groups to provide its support as an asymmetric force to use against Israel. Meanwhile, Iran itself may be still trying to figure out just how much damage was done in these attacks. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show that at least two military bases near Tehran were targeted, one of which was linked to Iran’s one-time nuclear weapons program that analysts believe ended in 2003. Other sites in these bases were involved in making ballistic missiles, the same missiles that Iran has used twice to target Israel during the war, both in April and in October. The fact that they’re targeting these ballistic missile supply points shows that the Israelis may be trying to limit Iran’s ability to rearm and restock after these attacks. Iran needs to keep an arsenal at hand as a deterrent against Israel and the United States so it may not have the missiles needed to really do both at this point. We don’t know because Iran isn’t saying what damage has been done, nor how many missiles they’ve used. Meanwhile, Iran is also still weighing, trying to reach out to the United States and the rest of the West to negotiate over its rapidly advancing nuclear program that has resulted in all these international sanctions that have hobbled Iran’s economy for years now. So all these things put together really show that Iran is still weighing what to do. But as the wars in both Gaza and Lebanon and other attacks still roil the Middle East, it remains an incredibly dangerous moment for all, and particularly for those in Tehran."
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STORYLINE:
AP journalist Jon Gambrell explains how Iran is weighing its options after Israel’s attack Saturday that killed at least five people and targeted military sites.
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