Iran President Promises 'Retribution' Against Israel After Pager Attacks

By Brendan Cole

The electronic device explosions in Lebanon will be met with "just retribution," Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has said.

Pager blasts killed 12 and injured more than 2,000 on Tuesday, before walkie-talkies detonated on Wednesday, killing 20 and injuring at least 450. The attacks targeted members of Hezbollah, the Islamist group linked to Tehran, and they have been blamed on Israel.

Israel hasn't yet commented on the blasts, which have been linked to its Mossad spy agency, but the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, declared on Wednesday "a new phase in the war" in the Middle East.

A man with a Hezbollah flag during a funeral on September 18, 2024. Iran has vowed retribution for attacks believed to have been carried out by Israel. Getty Images

Without mentioning Israel by name, Pezeshkian posted on X that he condemned "the treacherous mass assassination carried out by the terrorist entity through the bombing of communication devices."

"God is almighty and avenging, and the criminal will surely receive just retribution," the post added, according to a translation.

He added that Tehran "condemns this heinous crime that targeted the Lebanese and affirms its support for Lebanon, its government and people, and we call on international organizations to assume their responsibilities."

Former Israeli Intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed told Newsweek that Hezbollah had been using pagers because they thought they would be safer than phones, which could be GPS targeted.

"While Hezbollah still has the fallback wired system it created in 2008, the loss of wireless communications capabilities severely compromises its flexibility, connectivity, and maneuverability," he said.

Melamed added that the strike on Tuesday may have been tied to the announcement about Israel's security services foiling a Hezbollah attempted assassination in Tel Aviv of former Israeli defense minister and IDF chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon.

The attack, along with Israel's military posture and Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Egypt to discuss a peace deal for the war in Gaza, shows that the U.S. and Israel "are signaling Iran directly" to pressure Hamas into a compromise, Melamed said.

Israeli threats to strike Hezbollah at a time when the group is vulnerable could undermine Iran's control over Lebanon and mean "weakening its most significant proxy," Melamed added.

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed faction that controls swaths of Lebanon, have been trading attacks across a shared border.

Amid concern that the attacks could lead to an all-out conflict, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for restraint from both sides and said it could be a "pre-emptive strike before a major military operation," and that the UN security council is due to meet on Friday to discuss the issue.

Update 09/19/24, 6 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.