Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, today expressed the hope that Syria will strike back at Israel after the apparent Israeli raid on one or two targets in Syria, presumed to be a chemical/biological weapons plant and a shipment of advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah.
Middle East Online, however, remembers that only last week Iran declared that any Israeli strike on Syria will be considered an attack against Iran and Iran would retaliate. That statement, the latest of a long line of similar declarations, was made by Ali Akbar Velayati, assistant to the Supreme Leader Khamanei. As the MEO headline says, Iran is telling Syria to go and fight while Iran is doing nothing.
This isn't stopping Iran from saying that the Syrian response is imminent, and "will put Israel in a coma." Tehran also announced that thousands of Israelis are preparing to leave the country in anticipation of the massive Syrian response.
It it too early to say that Iran is not preparing a response, but history shows that Tehran likes to do its dirty work through proxies like Hezbollah or by attacking Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide through its spy services.
One cannot also underestimate Muslim pride - Iran is undoubtedly not happy with being made fun of and of having its fellow Muslim countries see it as breaking its own promises.