IDF nears ‘full operational control’ of northern Gaza in war against Hamas, officials say

A fiery article in the revolutionary newspaper of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran earlier this month threatened the U.S. and its assets, as well as its allies, in the Middle East.

According to the Dec. 11 article titled “Maximum Pressure With A ‘Balance Of Horror And Fear,'” the paper Kayhan wrote, “Today, in adherence to Imam (Khomeini’s) school of thought, the only way to confront America’s belligerent policy, and to deter and isolate the Zionist regime, is to apply maximum pressure by means of ‘a balance of horror and fear.’’

The Islamic Republic tends to not refer to the Jewish state as Israel but to use the phrase “Zionist regime” in a pejorative sense of the Middle East’s only democracy.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was the first supreme leader of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran’s clerical regime, uses the newspaper Kayhan to express his views and thinking. The Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first located and translated the Kayhan article from Farsi into English.

Iran’s proxies have intensified their attacks on American forces since Tehran’s strategic partner, Hamas, invaded Israel and murdered 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans in southern Israel.

Kayhan boasted in its article that Khomeini developed the “horror and fear” strategy to fight the West and urged attacks on U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf. According to Kayhan, Iran “has now created a powerful, effective, and viable means of deterrence in the Persian Gulf and in international waters, and has forced its will on the Americans.”

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Calls for horror and fear are despicable and dangerous. The United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but as the Biden Administration has shown, the United States will do what is necessary to defend itself, its people, and its interests from threats emanating from Iran.”

The spokesperson added, “We have made clear in public and private messaging to Iran that it should not escalate or widen the conflict – or take advantage of the current situation. And our bolstered presence in the region, including the arrival of two aircraft carrier groups, is a clear message to any actor in the region – be it nation-state or otherwise – that this is not a time to take advantage of the conflict between Israel and Hamas to widen this conflict.”