Tehran will “use all available tools” to respond to Israel’s weekend attack on military targets in Iran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Iran previously played down Israel’s air attack on Saturday, saying it caused only limited damage, while US 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, Mr 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, he added, without elaborating.
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The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps warned Israel it would face “bitter consequences” after its attack on Iranian military sites early on Saturday, according to local media reports.
The Israel’s attacks were in retaliation for the October 1st attack by Iran, which fired about 200 missiles at Israel, though most were intercepted by the country’s air defences.
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 Israeli 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 Israeli strikes killed four Iranian soldiers, Iran’s army said.
The heavily armed enemies have engaged in a cycle of retaliatory moves against each other for months. Iran backs Hizbullah, 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.
In Gaza, some 70 people were killed in Israeli air strikes in the past day, health officials said, as Israel’s renewed assault on the north of the strip shows no sign of slowing.
Information about the situation in northern Gaza has become increasingly sporadic and difficult to verify as Israel’s new ground and aerial assault focusing on Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun enters its fourth week.
In Lebanon, the Israeli army told residents in parts of the southern city of Tyre to leave immediately, warning that it would attack Hizbullah targets there.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, an Israeli air strike in the centre of the city on Monday killed at least seven people and injured 17 others. – Agencies