US Reiterates Warning to Iran
“The employment of the B-2 bomber was a unique demonstration of the United States' ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened or fortified..”
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) Addressing journalists on Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder underscored the warning to Iran that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had issued late on Wednesday.
That warning was conveyed, above all, by the use of B-2 bombers to attack hardened, underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
As Austin affirmed in his written statement, “The employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrates U.S. global strike capabilities to take actions against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere.”
In the opening statement of Thursday’s press briefing, Ryder repeated that message.
“As we announced last evening, U.S. military forces, including U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers, conducted precision strikes against five hardened weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” Ryder said.
“As Secretary Austin highlighted in his statement last night, the employment of the B-2 bomber was a unique demonstration of the United States' ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened or fortified,” he affirmed.
Austin’s statement was widely seen as a message to Iran. Thus, it follows that Ryder’s reiteration of that statement was a way to emphasize that warning.
Read More: US Deploys Powerful Bombers to Destroy Houthi Targets; Sends Message to Iran
When the B-2s struck the Houthi targets and Austin issued his statement, it was widely assumed that Israel would soon attack Iran in retaliation for Iran’s Oct. 1 attack and that Iran, in turn, would retaliate against Israel.
The U.S. statements were a way of warning Iran that any retaliation should be restrained—or else there would be consequences.
Death of Yahya Sinwar
In the meanwhile, however, it has become known that Hamas’s military and political leader, Yahya Sinwar, whom the Israelis consider the mastermind of the Oct 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the ongoing war, was killed in a routine raid on Wednesday in southern Gaza.
It took another day to confirm that Sinwar was, indeed, among the Palestinian fatalities in that raid. It is unclear if Sinwar’s death will affect prospects of another round in the direct conflict between Israel and Iran, which has paralleled the fight between Israel and Iran’s proxies.
However, it may. Iran supports Hamas, and a blow to Hamas is a blow to Iran. In addition, Sinwar was particularly close to Tehran.
Among the first comments from Iranian officials on Sinwar’s death was a post on X from Iran’s U.N. mission, which stated, "The spirit of resistance will be strengthened. [Sinwar] will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path towards the liberation of Palestine.”
Indeed, in Lebanon, Hizbollah said that it will increase its attacks on Israel, using the same language as Tehran, “The spirit of resistance will be strengthened.”
Sinwar’s Ties to Iran
Ties between Hamas and Iran became strained during Syria’s civil war, as Hamas refused to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on the opposition.
However, in 2017, Sinwar was instrumental in restoring ties with Tehran, as Reuters reported then.
“Hamas angered Iran by refusing to support Iran’s ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-old civil war,” Reuters explained. But several months after his election in February 2017 to the post of Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Sinwar gave a press briefing in which he told reporters, “The relationship today [with Iran] is developing and returning to what it was in the old days.”
In August of this year, following Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who had been based in Qatar, Sinwar was appointed to replace him, adding to his authority within Hamas.
Subsequently, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S. government funded media outlet, published a report entitled, “In ‘Ruthless’ Sinwar, Iran Got its Man to Lead Hamas.”
The RFE/RL report explained that Sinwar’s appointment came as “a big surprise,” and that was “because many did not take into account the Iran factor.”