Pakistan warned Iran of Israel's 'Rising Lion' operation but Tehran didn't take it seriously: Report

A month since Israel's Operation Rising Lion that saw Israel strike Iran's nuclear facilities and take out its senior IRGC commands, a Turkish officer has claimed that Pakistan had warned Iran about the impending attack. Not just Pakistan, even Turkey had warned the Islamic Republic about the impending war, but Tehran didn't take it seriously, the officer added.

The senior Turkish officer, who has not been named, told London-based Rai al-Youm that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)  received warnings from Turkey and Pakistan about the Mossad's plan to assassinate senior officials in Tehran even before Operation "Am Kalavi" began, according to the Israeli website Maariv. 

Iran was caught unawares of the Israeli action, which cost it dearly. Israel carried out an extensive military campaign that killed the IRGC top command, including IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Hossein Baqri, Air Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh. All of them were at their homes sleeping when the missiles tore through their residences.

There were earlier reports that a senior IRGC official dismissed the warning about the impending attack. Reports said a Western diplomat rang up a senior IRGC official to ask him about the impending Israeli attack. The Western official, who heard that Israel was about to attack Iran, called the IRGC official.

But the IRGC official who was "well-versed in what was happening in his country and its security, intelligence and operational systems" ignored it. The official who was sleeping when the call came sounded upset at being woken up and dismissed the warning, stating it was "nothing" and a "game that Israel was playing to increase Trump's leverage in the negotiations".

However, the first explosion happened before he could hang up. Though it was not his house that was bombed, the target was one of the top IRGC officials who had lived in the same residential neighbourhood.

While Iran hasn't yet confirmed that Pakistan or Turkey alerted them, an Israeli political party has claimed that Iranians did know shortly before the crushing nighttime attack that something was happening. 

Both Turkey and Pakistan are allies of Iran and have openly supported it, condemning Israeli strikes. 

 

 

Middle East