The Supreme National Security Council of Iran warned this Sunday that Tehran will multiply the magnitude of your attacks by ten If the Government led by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, responds to the launch of drones and missiles launched on the night of Saturday to Sunday in retaliation for the bombing of its Consulate in the capital of Syria, Damascus.
“If the Zionist regime wants to continue its evil actions against Iran by any means and at any level, it will receive at least ten times the same response,” he said in a statement reported by the ISNA news agency.
Likewise, the Council determined that Tehran has taken “the minimum necessary punitive measures” against Israel “to secure its national interests.”“and has highlighted that its actions are based on Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognizes “the inherent right of self-defense, individual or collective, in the event of an armed attack.”
Iranian missiles intercepted by the Israeli ‘iron shield’ in Ashkelon.
The Israeli Army confirmed that Iran’s direct attack – the one announced by Tehran as an ‘operation’True Promise‘- has included the launch of more than 300 projectiles including drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
For its part, Iran defended that these attacks are part of a legitimate response and their right to “self-defense” behind the bombing against its Consulate in Damascus, blamed on Israel and which resulted in the death of seven members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Israel and Iran before the UN
Iran urged Israel on Sunday not to react militarily to its unprecedented attack launched overnight, which he presented as a justified response to the bombing that destroyed his consulate in Damascus.
“The case can be considered closed“, announced the Iranian mission to the UN in a message published three hours after the start of the first direct attack against Israel that Iran carried out from its territory.
The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisiwarned that any “reckless” actions by Israel and its allies will lead to a “strongest response” from the Islamic Republic.
Before the UN, Israel demanded “all possible sanctions” and Iran justified itself: “It was in self-defense”
The Revolutionary Guards fired more than 200 drones and missiles at military targets in Israeli territory, the agency reported AFP.
The head of the Iranian armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, celebrated that the attack had reached “all its objectives” and left an “intelligence center and an air base” out of service. The Iranian drones did not target any urban or economic center, he said.
The Israeli army spokesman indicated that Iranian ballistic missiles They reached the Nevatim air base.
The Iranian mission to the UN explained that Iran’s “military action is a response to the aggression of the Zionist regime against our diplomatic headquarters in Damascus” and was carried out on the basis of “article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations regarding legitimate defense.”}
Iran sought to “punish” Israel
Over the past two weeks, Iranian authorities have affirmed their willingness to “punish” Israel after the death of seven Revolutionary Guardsincluding two generals of the Quds Force, its foreign operations arm, in the destruction of the Iranian consulate in Syria due to an attack attributed to Israel on April 1.
Israel “will get a slap in the face”“, had warned the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah there Yamene. “Holy Jerusalem will be in Muslim hands, and the Muslim world will celebrate the liberation of Palestine“, he claimed.
Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic, which advocates the destruction of Israel in favor of a Palestinian state, reported the agency AFP.
Israeli Air Force.
But until now, Iran had refrained from attacking it frontallypreferring to support the actions of other members of the “axis of resistance”, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi rebels.
For his part, the Israeli ambassador, Gilad Erdan, claimed at the meeting that the Security Council must “act” and impose “all possible sanctions on Iran before it is too late”.
Tension in the Middle East
The United States indicated that it would not join any possible Israeli counterattack. “We would not be part of any response they made,” said an official in the president’s administration. Joe Biden.
In a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu, Biden “made it very clear (…) that we do have to think carefully and strategically about the risks of escalation,” the official added.
The Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, assured that the 99% of the nearly 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran were intercepted with the help of the United States, Jordan and other allies and that the few who followed his path “lightly hit a military basewhich is still in operation.
Israel and Iran, from military allies to relentless enemies
The official Iranian news agency Irna reported “serious damage to the most important air base in the Negev” in southern Israel.
Los Iranian bombings left 12 injuredaccording to the Israeli military, including a seven year old girlspecified a medical center.
Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, both allies of Iranlaunched parallel attacks against Israel.
Reporters of the AFP Several explosions were reported in Jerusalem early Sunday morning, while residents sought shelter and stocked up on water.
Israel ordered its schools to close on Saturday, but the military announced they would reopen on Monday after assessing the situation.
Iranian protesters at a protest in front of the British Embassy in Tehran, while an attack with drones and missiles takes place on several areas of Israel.
For his part, the G7 of the major Western powers “unanimously” condemned the Iranian attack and called on the different parties for “restraint”“.
“We demand that Iran and its allies cease their attacks and we are ready to take new measures now, in case of new destabilization initiatives,” said the statement from the bloc made up of United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Gaza in the crosshairs
At the Security Council session, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterreswarned that “Neither the region nor the world can afford more wars“, and warned that “The Middle East is on the brink“.
He Pope Francisco launched an “urgent appeal” for stop “a spiral of violence” that can “drag the Middle East into even greater conflict.”
The Iranian attack increased the risk of a regional outbreak present since the start of the war in Gaza, on October 7.
The G7 also called for an end to the crisis in Gaza through a “cease fire and release of hostages held by Hamas“, the Islamist movement in power in the Palestinian territory.
Israel after the Iranian attack with hundreds of drones and missiles.
The Israeli military said Hamas is holding hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Netanyahu plans to invade despite international pressure.
The war broke out when Islamist fighters killed about 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to a count by the AFP based on official Israeli data.
They also took 250 hostages, of whom 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are believed to have died, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a relentless offensive that has already left 33,729 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.
ED