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The attacks come "in response to the recent crimes of the Zionist regime," according to a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), referring to an attack believed to have been carried out by Israel against the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month. in which two Iranian generals were killed.
"The regime of evil will be punished," said Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a social media post on platform X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote that "Israel is strong" in a post on X, shortly after the Israeli military confirmed the Iranian missile strike on Saturday evening.
"The nation of Israel is strong, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is strong, the Israeli people are strong," Netanyahu wrote on X, just four minutes before the military base said Iran had shot down drones.
Iran has warned that it will respond with more force if Israel retaliates over this weekend's strikes, which Tehran said were themselves a reply to an Israeli attack earlier this month on its embassy complex in Syria's capital Damascus.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right of self-defense when required," Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, said in a statement.
Should the Israeli regime commit any military aggression again, Iran's response will assuredly and decisively be stronger and more resolute,” Ambassador Iravani added.
Citing self-defense against repeated Israeli military aggressions, Iravani said the strikes were specifically in retaliation to an Israeli attack on April 1 against what Iran says were diplomatic facilities in Damascus.
Iran claims the attack violated international law and led to the death of seven Iranian military advisors, including key commanders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The statement also criticizes the United Nations Security Council for “failing to uphold international peace,” allowing Israel to “breach” established international norms and “escalate” regional tensions.
The unprecedented wave of strikes launched from Iran towards Israel appears to have subsided, two US officials said. The attacks lasting approximately five hours and plunge the already tinder box Middle East into uncharted territory.
Iran said the overnight attacks were retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, earlier this month.
The Biden administration says almost all of the drones and missiles – including more than 100 ballistic missiles – launched at Israel by Iran have been knocked out of the sky.
US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that his country should consider tonight a win because the current US assessment is that Iran’s attacks had been largely unsuccessful and demonstrated Israel’s superior military capability, a senior administration official told CNN.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has asked his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, to notify the US ahead of any potential response to the Iranian attack, according to a US official. The Israeli security cabinet has authorized the three-man war cabinet to decide on Israel’s response.
Ensuring peace and stability in the region is paramount for our national security, and we will not hesitate to try to revive stability and peace — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Ensuring peace and stability in the region is paramount for our national security, and we will not hesitate to try to revive stability and peace — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Tehran's attack on Israel targeted the Nevatim airbase, an Iranian army official has said on Sunday, alleging that this is where Israel's early April strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus was launched from.
The “operation” targeted “the Nevatim airbase, where the F-35 planes were used for targeting our consulate in Damascus,” the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, said on Iranian state TV IRINN.
Iranian ballistic missiles that reached Israel fell on the airbase located in the south of the country and caused only light structural damage, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. The base is functioning and continuing its operations following the attack, with planes continuing to use the base, Hagari added.
The attack on the Iranian consulate annex building on April 1 killed senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders. Israel is widely suspected to be behind the airstrike, though it has not officially claimed responsibility.
Bagheri said Iran’s operation also targeted a “large information center” near Israel's border with Syria.
