Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to hold out “crushing assaults” towards arch-foe Israel if it retaliates for a missile assault by the Islamic republic on Tuesday.
“If the Zionist regime reacts to Iranian operations, it is going to face crushing assaults,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) mentioned in a press release carried by the Fars information company.
The IRGC mentioned the assault was “in accordance with the United Nations Constitution”.
It mentioned the missile assault got here “after a interval of restraint” following an “assault on the sovereignty” of Iran — a reference to the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July.
The IRGC mentioned the missile assaults focused “three army bases” round Tel Aviv in addition to air and radar bases, including that “90 p.c” of the missiles “hit their targets”.
The USA had earlier warned of an imminent Iranian ballistic missile assault on Israel, and mentioned it might have “extreme” penalties for Tehran.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed the nation’s “decisive response” to what he referred to as the Israeli “aggression”.
Iranian media carried on-line footage of what they mentioned had been missiles being fired at Israel.
State tv performed upbeat music over the footage as its newscaster spoke of “the courageous Iranian individuals”.
It broadcast photographs of residents of Iran’s second metropolis Mashhad celebrating the missile assault within the streets, waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the Lebanese group’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah.
– Gaza ceasefire efforts –
Related celebrations additionally occurred within the capital Tehran and in a number of provincial cities.
Tuesday’s assault was Iran’s second on Israel, after a missile and drone assault in April in retaliation for a lethal Israeli air strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
Practically the entire missiles and drones fired in that assault had been intercepted by Israel or its allies.
An Israeli air strike on Beirut on Friday killed Nasrallah, whose militant group has been armed and financed by Iran for years.
Nasrallah was killed alongside Common Abbas Nilforoushan, a high commander of the Quds Drive, the IRGC’s international operations arm.
Iran vowed that Nilforoushan’s killing would “not go unanswered”.
Eventually month’s UN Common Meeting in New York, Pezeshkian accused Israel of warmongering as Iran exercised restraint.
He recommended Tehran had held again retaliation for Haniyeh’s killing, fearing that it may derail US-backed efforts for a ceasefire within the Gaza conflict.
“We tried to not reply. They saved telling us we had been inside attain of peace, maybe in every week or so,” he mentioned.
On Sunday, Pezeshkian mentioned guarantees by the USA and its allies of a “ceasefire in trade for Iran’s non-reaction to Haniyeh’s killing had been utterly false”.
He added that “giving these criminals (Israel) an opportunity would solely encourage them to commit extra crimes”.
Iran doesn’t recognise Israel, and has made assist for the Palestinian trigger a centrepiece of its international coverage because the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Tehran hailed its ally Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel, which triggered the Gaza conflict, however denied any involvement.
Regional tensions have soared because the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, drawing in Iran-aligned teams from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
ap/mz/srm
