TEHRAN — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Israel’s airstrikes on Iran should not be magnified nor downplayed.
While Israel would like to amplify the impacts of its actions against Iran, Khamenei said on Sunday, adding it would also not be right for Iran to dismiss the strikes as insignificant, CNN reported.
“They’re making a miscalculation concerning Iran,” he said in comments published on his website.
“They still haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, capability, ingenuity, and determination of the Iranian people. We need to make them understand these things.”
Khamenei said that those who believe Iran should avoid producing weapons to avoid provoking backlash are misguided.
Keeping a country weak does not maintain its security, he added.
The Iranian leader also condemned Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, as well as the international community for enabling them, CNN reported.
“War operates within a framework of rules, laws, and limitations. These limitations can’t just be disregarded during a war. However, the criminal gang ruling over the occupied lands has trampled all boundaries and rules underfoot,” he said.
Both Iranian and Israeli officials appeared deliberate on Saturday in their initial framing of Israel’s retaliation for Tehran’s major missile attack earlier this month.
Israel’s public posture immediately after the strikes was relatively muted. That was intentional, a source familiar with the Israeli government’s thinking said, aimed at allowing Iran to downplay the strikes and avoid further escalation.
Iran’s government seemed to seize that opportunity, claiming the strikes caused only limited damage at military sites, even as it acknowledged that four Iranian soldiers were killed.
Iran says it does not seek war with Israel but vows appropriate response
Iran has vowed to respond to Israel’s strikes on the country, which killed five people — four Iranian Soldiers and a civilian — but said it does not want a wider war.
“We do not seek war, but we will defend the rights of the people and the nation, and we will give an appropriate response to the Zionist entity’s aggression,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to media reports.
The Iranian President warned tensions would escalate if Israel “continues its aggression and crimes” and accused the US of “provoking the regime into committing these crimes”.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA also quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying Iran was not seeking war, but adding that it would respond to any aggression by Israel at an “appropriate time”.
Israel has said its strikes on Iran early Saturday hit military targets and were in response to Iranian attacks on Israel earlier this month, CNN reported.
Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, warned on Sunday that any threat against his country would be dealt with militarily.
He added that Israel had “used only a portion” of its military capabilities during Saturday’s strikes on Iran.
“We will now see how things develop. We are prepared for all scenarios in every arena,” he said.
Israel had a relatively muted public posture immediately after the strikes, which was intentional, according to a source familiar with the government’s thinking, aimed at allowing Iran to downplay the strikes and avoid further escalation.
Iran’s government seemed to seize that opportunity initially, claiming the strikes caused only limited damage at military sites, even as it acknowledged that one civilian and four Iranian soldiers were killed.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Sunday that he has held phone calls with his Israeli and Iranian counterparts and pressed for de-escalation, CNN reported.
Israel launched direct strikes on what it said were military targets in Iran early Saturday, in a high-stakes retaliation to Tehran’s ballistic missile barrage earlier this month. –IANS