Iran considers itself revenged and warns Israel not to respond

Iran urged Israel on Sunday not to react militarily to its unprecedented attack launched overnight, which it presented as a justified response to the bombing that destroyed its consulate in Damascus.

“The case can be considered closed,” the Iranian mission to the UN announced in a message published three hours after the start of the first direct attack against Israel that Iran carried out from its territory.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that any “reckless” actions by Israel and its allies will lead to a “stronger response” from the Islamic Republic.

The Revolutionary Guards fired more than 200 drones and missiles at military targets in Israeli territory.

The head of the Iranian armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, celebrated that the attack had hit “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 centers, he said.

The Israeli army spokesman indicated that Iranian ballistic missiles hit 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.”

– “Punish” Israel –

Over the past two weeks, Iranian authorities have affirmed their willingness to “punish” Israel following the death of seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals of the Quds Force, its foreign operations arm, in the destruction of the Iranian consulate in Syria for an attack attributed to Israel on April 1.

Israel “will receive a slap in the face,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned.

Since the 1979 revolution the Islamic Republic, which advocates the destruction of Israel in favor of a Palestinian state.

But until now, Iran had refrained from attacking it frontally, preferring to support the actions of other members of the “axis of resistance,” including the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi rebels.

The latter two have fired almost daily at Israel since the start of their war against the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip on October 7.

A few hours before the attack against Israel, Iran captured a container ship “linked” to Israel with 25 crew members on board in the Strait of Hormuz, a fact described by the United States as an “act of piracy.”

On Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of France, the United Kingdom and Germany due to “the irresponsible positions of some officials of those countries regarding Iran’s response to the actions of the Zionist regime against the citizens and interests” of the Islamic Republic.

– “Message” to the United States –

Following the announcement of the attack, Iran called on the United States to “stay out” of its conflict with Israel.

General Baghari indicated that Iranian authorities had “sent a message to the United States warning that if they cooperate with Israel for its possible next actions, its bases will no longer be safe.”

Washington has several military bases in the region.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that Tehran informed neighboring countries before launching its military operation and stressed that its objective was “to punish the Israeli regime.”

“We are not seeking to target American people or bases in the region,” he declared, but warned that Iran could attack American military positions involved in “the defense and support” of Israel.

“The next slap will be more violent,” says a mural inaugurated Saturday night in Tehran’s Palestine Square, where thousands of people gathered after the attack chanting “death to Israel” and “death to the United States.”

Iran “can escalate its actions if it wants because it can choose between several options such as Hezbollah, maritime disturbances or bombing against vulnerable Israeli targets abroad,” analyzed Nishank Motwani, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in Washington.

After the attack, Israeli authorities did not reveal their intentions, but had not previously ruled out the possibility of striking on Iranian territory, probably targeting military or nuclear facilities, according to experts.

As a precaution, the Tehran-Mehrabad airport, dedicated to domestic flights, will remain open until 6:00 a.m. (02:30 GMT) on Monday, according to the Isna agency.

In addition, the authorities announced the cancellation of flights from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport until the same time.

The US helped shoot down the drones

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said US forces helped shoot down “almost all” of the drones and missiles fired by Iran at Israel, and reaffirmed his “strong” commitment to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden announced in a statement that he would convene the leaders of the G7 – the group of the richest nations – to coordinate a “united diplomatic response” to Iran’s “brazen” attack.

In this regard, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Hosein Amir Abdolahian, once again warned the United States this Sunday that in the event that its military bases in the countries of the Middle East region are used to “defend and support” Israel, will “inevitably” attack those positions.

”We warn that in the event that the airspace or territory of the aforementioned countries are used by the US to defend and support the Tel Aviv regime, the US base in that country will inevitably be attacked,” Abdolahian declared, according to the ISNA agency.

The foreign ministers of the countries of the European Union (EU) will meet this Tuesday, April 16, in an extraordinary manner and by videoconference to analyze the situation in the Middle East after the attack that Iran

Who are Iran’s allies in the Middle East?

Led by Iran from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coast, the informal Axis of Resistance alliance has confronted Israel since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, a conflict that threatens to spread after the massive launch of missiles and drones by They will go to the Jewish State.

In its first attack against Israeli territory, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones last night in retaliation for the bombing against its consulate in Damascus on April 1 in which six Syrians and seven members of the Revolutionary Guard died, and for which Tehran accused Tel Aviv.

According to the Pentagon, the Islamic Republic’s announced response was “launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen,” where Tehran leads a network of rebel groups and powerful militias that wage their war against Israel and the United States in different ways in support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

These are Iran’s main allies, possible targets of an Israeli response.

Hezbollah, the flagship

Considered Iran’s most powerful ally in the Middle East, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has been involved in a measured but intense exchange of fire with Israel mainly on the common divide since October 8, a day after the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Coinciding with the Iranian attack against Israeli territory, the armed group announced the launch of “dozens” of rockets towards an important military base in northern Israel and, later, claimed responsibility for another barrage against three military posts in the northern Golan Heights.

Israeli aircraft, in response, bombed a building in the Bekaa Valley, a region in eastern Lebanon far from the common border where clashes usually occur and which has been attacked by the Jewish State several times in recent weeks. .

In Lebanon and Israel, six months of clashes have already left more than 150,000 displaced on both sides of the border, as well as nearly twenty dead on the Israeli side and more than 330 on the Lebanese side.

The Houthis, in the spotlight

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have demonstrated their capabilities by launching missiles and drones against Israel, as well as attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea since late November to damage the Israeli economy and its Western allies.

The severe disruptions caused by these attacks and the Houthi threat to Israel caused the United States and the United Kingdom to begin a bombing campaign against insurgent positions in Yemen in mid-January, although the group assures that it will not deter them.

The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for launching projectiles simultaneously with Iran’s attack against Israel, although Washington and several organizations denounce that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has units deployed in several areas of Yemen controlled by the insurgents.

Iraq’s militias unleashed

Despite having more limited capabilities than Hezbollah and the Houthis, the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for launching around 200 attacks against bases with a US presence in Iraqi and Syrian territory, although it has also occasionally targeted southern Iraq. Israel.

The group, made up of an amalgamation of militias loyal to Iran operating in Iraq and in the border area in eastern Syria, has kept a low profile after one of its drones killed three US soldiers on the border in January. Jordan and Syria.

This provoked an angry response from Washington, which heavily bombed positions of these armed groups in both Iraq and Syria, leaving dozens dead and setting off all the alarms about the opening of a new war front that would involve a direct confrontation with Iran. .

The Iraqi government, which maintains a delicate balance between Tehran and Washington, has warned its two allies that its territory is not a battlefield, after Iran also launched missiles against northern Iraq in January, alleging that they were targeting a headquarters. of the Israeli Mossad.