A top-ranking Israeli general says it’s likely that the Iranian military will launch missile strikes at Israel, the head of the country’s Military Intelligence Research Division told Israel Hayom this week.

Brig. Gen. Dror Shalom singled out Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, as the person who would ultimately oversee that kind of attack.

"In the end, when he [Soleimani] takes a hit to the nose, he wants to hit back, and he has taken some blows recently. So my working assumption is that it's only a matter of time until he tries," Shalom said.

"It could be in the form of a surface-to-surface missile, cruise missiles, or long-range UAVs. He has UAVs that can fly 1,000-1,200 kilometers (600-1200 miles) which he has used in the Persian Gulf," he added.

Shalom also expressed concern about Iran’s nuclear program, which could force Military Intelligence to redirect their resources towards.

"I'm a lot less easy today. We've gotten into a gray area in which they're moving ahead without, which requires us to be a lot more sensitive. Will we know [about an attack]? The Iranians are a very sophisticated enemy, and it bothers me,” he said.

"We're living in a much more complicated reality, which is only getting worse. We are starting to approach the level of war.”