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Iranian mourners gather around a truck carrying the flag-covered coffins of Revolutionary Guard members killed in an airstrike.
Photo: Vahid Salemi / dpa
The members of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard who were killed in an air strike on the Iranian embassy were buried in a public funeral in Tehran on Friday. Iran used the opportunity to threaten retaliation again.
"Our brave men will punish the Zionist regime," General Hossein Salami told a crowd in Tehran. "We warn that no act of an enemy against our sacred system will go unanswered." The Iranian nation has "the power to break empires."
US media reports agree that senior US government officials believe a retaliatory strike by Iran is inevitable. An attack could take place as early as next week. Then the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan ends.
CNN said on Friday, citing a high-ranking US government official, that the US was actively preparing for a "significant" attack next week. Both US and Israeli targets could be targeted. However, both governments do not know "when and how Iran is planning a counterattack."
The CBS broadcaster reported on Friday that, according to intelligence information from the United States, Iran was planning an attack with drones and cruise missiles. The question is whether they would be sent from Iranian territory or from Iraq or Syria.
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Thursday that he would only give interviews to U.S. news networks "after Iran's response to Israel."
Two brigadier generals and five other members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed in the air strike on the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday. Iran then announced retaliation, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in turn threatened consequences if Iran attacked his country. The Revolutionary Guards are Iran's elite armed forces and are considered more powerful than the conventional armed forces.
Iran's threats against Israel were also raised in a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu on Thursday. According to the White House, Biden made it clear that the USA supports Israel in the face of these threats.
vet/dpa