Tehran will "use all available tools" to respond to Israel's weekend attack on military targets in Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Esmaeil Baghaei © TT
Tehran will "use all available tools" to respond to Israel's weekend attack on military targets in Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Iran previously played down Israel's air attack on Saturday, saying it caused only limited damage, while U.S. President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.
Speaking at a weekly televised news conference, Baghaei said: "(Iran) will use all available tools to deliver a definite and effective response to the Zionist regime (Israel)".
The nature of Iran's response depends on the nature of the Israeli attack, Baghaei added, without elaborating.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Iran's power to Israel, adding that the Isreli attack should "neither be downplayed nor exaggerated".
Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn on Saturday against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.
The heavily armed arch-enemies have engaged in a cycle of retaliatory moves against each other for months, with Saturday's strike coming after an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, much of which Israel said was downed by its air defences.
Iran backs Hezbollah, which is engaged in heavy fighting with Israeli forces in Lebanon, and also the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is battling Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Reporting by Elwely Elwelly
The Israeli military accused Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Tuesday of seeking to rebuild its combat abilities in south Lebanon to the point of threatening Israel's security and undoing last year's ceasefire deal.
The 12th Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate (ADSD), organized by the Emirates Policy Center (EPC), concluded today after two intense days of high-level discussions on the global strategic order and regional transformations, particularly in the Middle East.
In a notable diplomatic development, Dr. Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), met today in Abu Dhabi with Saeed Khatibzadeh, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of the Centre for Political and International Studies.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.