Iran’s latest threat to Israel is worth your attention. Coming from the head of Iran’s national security council, Ali Shamkhani, it represents the current thought process of the Iranian hardliner bloc under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Shamkhani is a longtime conservative who has been at the cornerstone of Iranian efforts to build a strategic deterrence capability via ranged missile platforms and research of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. And the council chief’s words were clear. The admiral warned Israel on Tuesday that its “unacceptable” air strikes on Iranian missile forces in Syria would meet a “crushing and proportional response.” Shamkhani claimed any new Israeli air strikes would mean Iran giving “a lesson to the liar and criminal Israeli rulers.” But there’s a lot more going on here than simple rhetoric. Shamkhani’s words represent three different concerns of the Iranian hardliners.