House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said during an interview over the weekend that Americans in the Middle East were in danger of becoming targets for the Islamic Republic of Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism looks to avenge the loss of one of its top generals.
Turner made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper when asked about Iran’s forthcoming retaliation after Israel killed Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, last week.
A hardline group in Iran with connections to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Zahedi played a “strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front as well as in planning and executing” Hamas’ unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7.
“I think Americans in the area remain in danger,” Turner said when asked about what Iran was planning. “Remember, Iranian proxies have continued to attack U.S. troops in the area, again, with the Biden administration being slow to respond and ultimately responding to those attacks. And, of course, the United States has moved additional capabilities and assets in the area to deter Iran from entering into this conflict directly with Israel, although their proxy is Hamas, which the conflict is directly with.”
“And Hezbollah continues to be a threat to Israel in Lebanon,” he added, noting that Zahedi was a “legitimate target” for Israel to eliminate because he was a key Iranian player behind much of the country’s terrorism in the Syria and Lebanon.