IRGC official does not rule out a pre-emptive Israeli-American attack; Western officials say Trump may urge Israel to strike Iranian oil industry and nuclear sites; four sentenced to death for spying for Israel  

Iran on Wednesday repeated its threat to launch a substantial attack on Israel in retaliation for the Israeli strike on Iran last month. “The Zionists do not have the power to confront us and they must wait for our response… our depots have enough weapons for that,” deputy chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ali Fadavi adding Tehran does not rule out a potential U.S.-Israel pre-emptive strike to prevent it from retaliating against Israel.

Israel is facing the threat of an Iranian attack while its defense minister has been fired and a new and inexperienced politician with no military or security background is supposed to take his place.Iran also announced on Wednesday that it had sentenced four people to death in a revolutionary court in the northwest of the country over charges of spying for Israel.

Western officials told Reuters that Trump may reimpose his Maximum pressure campaign placing increased sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and may also encourage Israel to attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities and assassinate senior Iranian officials.

“The U.S. elections are not really our business. Our policies are steady and don’t change based on individuals. We made the necessary predictions before and there will not be change in people’s livelihoods,” government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, said to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The reinstatement of U.S. sanctions in 2018 hit Iran’s oil exports, slashing government revenues and forcing it to take unpopular steps, such as increasing taxes and running big budget deficits, policies that have kept annual inflation close to 40%.

Iran’s national currency has weakened at the prospect of a Trump presidency, reaching an all-time low of 700,000 rials to the U.S dollar on the free market, according to Iranian currency tracking website Bonbast.com.

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