Iran-Israel conflict may soon escalate into direct confrontation – Zhanna Vardanyan

The Iran-Israel conflict has entered the stage of direct clashes, Iranologist Zhanna Vardanyan told Alpha News.

“The Iran-Israel conflict has entered a new stage, which began after Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus and was followed by a reaction from Iran. And for the first time in history, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel from its territory. There was a direct clash, which later continued with Israeli attacks on Iran and new retaliatory strikes from Iran. At present, the Iran-Israel conflict has entered the stage of direct clashes,” she said.

Vardanyan noted that Iran is avoiding war with Israel in every possible way.

“The situation in Lebanon and Syria has changed now; in particular, Hezbollah has weakened in Lebanon. Iran has actually lost Syria, which was an important link in the Axis of Resistance, and it was through Syria that the land connection with Hezbollah was carried out. In fact, the Axis is now weakened; Iran’s leverage against Israel has been limited, which, in turn, increases the possibility of direct confrontation. It is possible that soon, the Iran-Israel conflict will look more like a direct confrontation, and the mutual blows that we have witnessed this year will continue.

All this increases the possibility of larger-scale actions, but we have seen how cautiously the Iranian side acts, trying to avoid war at any cost, and even the actions it takes against Israel are very thoughtful. Everything possible is done to avoid war. And I believe no one can predict whether there will actually be a war between them or not,” Zhanna Vardanyan concluded.