Military maneuvers announced by Iran on Sunday, raise questions about their goals.

The official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday that the Revolutionary Guard is conducting military training in the western regions of the country that will continue until the day after tomorrow, Tuesday.

A Revolutionary Guard official told IRNA that “the training that began the day before yesterday, Friday, is continuing in the Kermanshah province in the west of the country, near the border with Iraq, “to enhance combat readiness and vigilance.”

The exercises are taking place at a time when Iran has vowed to respond to Israel after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, on July 31, while he was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Massoud Pezeshkian.

Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of carrying out the assassination of Haniyeh, and Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the assassination, which has raised more fears that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will turn into a broader war in the Middle East.

Ali Fadavi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard, said on Friday that Tehran will implement what Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei orders regarding this.

He added, “The orders of Leader Khamenei regarding inflicting harsh punishment on Israel in retaliation for the blood of Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit... and will be implemented in the best possible way.”

A state of anticipation prevails in Israel in anticipation of the Iranian response to the assassination of Haniyeh, and the Lebanese Hezbollah response to the assassination of Fouad Shukr, a prominent leader of the party, on July 30. Could these maneuvers be a cover for the Iranian response?