Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has given a measured response to Israeli strikes on the country, saying the attack should not be “exaggerated or downplayed” while refraining from pledging immediate retaliation.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would “give an appropriate response” to the attack, which killed at least four soldiers, adding that Tehran did not seek war.
Israel said it targeted military sites in several regions of Iran on Saturday in retaliation for Iranian attacks, including a barrage of almost 200 ballistic missiles fired towards Israel on 1 October.
On Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had crippled Iranian air defence and missile production systems. He said the strikes had “severely damaged Iran’s defence capability and its ability to produce missiles”.
“The attack was precise and powerful and achieved its goals,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony commemorating the victims of last year’s 7 October attacks.”
Official Iranian sources have publicly played down the impact of the attack, saying most missiles were intercepted and those that weren’t caused only limited damage to air defence systems.
In his first public comments since the attack, Khamenei said: “It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country.”
President Pezeshkian largely echoed the supreme leader’s language, telling a cabinet meeting: “We do not seek war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country.”
The Israeli strikes were more limited than some observers had been expecting. The US had publicly pressured Israel not to hit oil and nuclear facilities, advice seemingly heeded by Tel Aviv.
The Iranian foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran had “received indications” about an impending attack hours before it took place.
