Robert Wilkie, who served in the Trump administration, told Newsmax on Wednesday that the reason Iran has not retaliated for the presumed Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is because its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is intimidated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"What you're seeing from the Iranians, the reason we haven't seen any massive retaliation, is that Netanyahu has put the fear of God into the supreme leader," Wilkie, who was secretary of Veteran Affairs and Under Secretary of Defense for Trump, told "Newsline." "The supreme leader knows that he is in the crosshairs and that the Israelis can reach out and touch anyone and anything in Iran.
"They also are watching Hezbollah being slowly degraded. The Israelis carried out 250 preemptive strikes on Hezbollah this weekend and the only casualties from the Hezbollah side was the chicken coop in northern Israel."
Iran’s foreign minister reportedly referenced his country’s planned retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh in a recent phone conversation with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in Haniyeh's assassination, which took place July 31 while he was in Tehran for the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.
"Iran reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated," Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X. "We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it – unlike Israel."
Wilkie also commented on the rescue of an Arab-Israeli citizen who was one of the hostages taken by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists during its Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state.
"I think there's actually a deeper meaning to this particular rescue and this is a response to the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party and those who are preparing again to burn down elite college campuses in the fall," he said. "This man was an Arab citizen of Israel, a Bedouin Arab Muslim who was rescued by Israeli forces and taken back to Israel."
Qaid Farhan Alkadi was rescued from Gaza by Israeli forces on Tuesday after 326 days in Hamas captivity. He was released from Beersheba's Soroka Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon.
"He spoke about the darkness, not being able to see. But, thank God, he's back with us, alive – it made us all rejoice," Alkadi's cousin Fayez al-Sana told The New York Times.
"You would not find that in any other Arab country," Wilkie said. "You would certainly not find that kind of openness to rescue someone of another faith from the ayatollahs and that says a lot about the structure of Israeli society."
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Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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