Israeli officials are beating the war drums against Iran after Tehran launched a large and unprecedented missile barrage on sites throughout the state.
The attack on Tuesday night came in the aftermath of Israel’s intensification of its war on Lebanon and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.
Israel’s cabinet has yet to decide on the timing and nature of the response, Axios reported, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that his government will retaliate.
“Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it,” he said in a recorded video following the attack.
“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies. They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack him,” he added.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir urged Netanyahu to launch a military campaign against Iran, similar to what it did in Lebanon.
“What we did to Lebanon must also be done to Iran… no political arrangements, no diplomacy – crush, crush, crush,” he said.
‘Historic moment’
Elsewhere, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that now is “a historic moment” to attack Iran.
“Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East,” he wrote on X.
“We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime.”
Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman issued similar statements, calling for an immediate attack on Iran.
“Bomb all the oil, gas and nuclear facilities, and destroy the refineries and dams,” he said.
Iran said the attack involved dozens of ballistic missiles, while Israeli media said around 200 missiles were fired at different parts of the country, with many easing past Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the attack was in response to Israel’s killing of Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut, as well as Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations said the operation was a “legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts” conducted by Israel.
“Should the Zionist regime dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence, a subsequent and crushing response will ensue. Regional states and the Zionists’ supporters are advised to part ways with the regime,” the mission said.
An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran alerted Washington through diplomatic channels “shortly before” the attack took place, but US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller denied the claim.
