"Financial Networks in the Middle East Also Targeted"... Iran Warns of 'An Eye for an Eye' Retaliation

Analysts say that Iran is retaliating against attacks by the United States and Israel with a "an eye for an eye" approach, adhering to the "Qisas principle," a fundamental tenet of punishment under Islamic law (Sharia).

On the 10th (local time), smoke was rising in the southern Beirut area of Lebanon due to an airstrike by Israel. Photo by AP Yonhap News

On March 11 (local time), a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbia headquarters, a key body of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed, "The terrorist U.S. military and the brutal Zionist regime (Israel), having failed to achieve their military objectives, attacked one of our banks." He continued, "Through such illegal and unconventional acts in war, the enemy has opened the way for us to attack economic bases and banks of the United States and the Zionist regime within the Middle East." He further warned, "Stay at least one kilometer away from (U.S. and Israeli) banks."

In this context, Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, mentioned "financial Qisas" on state television the same day. He warned, "If the enemy first attacks our central bank and financial network, threatening the livelihoods of our people, we will strike every point where their capital flows, in accordance with the principle of 'an eye for an eye, a bank for a bank.'"

On March 8, after Israel launched large-scale airstrikes on an oil storage facility near Tehran, Iran responded on March 10 by attacking oil and gas refineries and fuel storage facilities in Haifa, Israel's industrial city, with drones.

Iran's "Qisas-style retaliation" is interpreted as an effort to highlight the legitimacy of "religious principle-based retribution against aggression" in response to criticism that it is targeting civilian facilities. It is also seen as emphasizing that if the United States or Israel attacks Iranian civilian facilities, Iran will respond in kind, in hopes of deterring further attacks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.