Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned against further attacks on his country after Israel targeted military sites in pre-dawn airstrikes on Saturday. In a statement posted to X, Pezeshkian gave his condolences to the families of the four people killed in the attacks and said Iran would continue to defend itself. “Enemies of Iran should know these brave people are standing fearlessly in defence of their land and will respond to any stupidity with tact and intelligence,” he wrote.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel, as well as surface-to-air missile sites. There was no indication oil or nuclear sites were struck, and Iran insisted the strikes caused only “limited damage”, state-run media downplaying their impact.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for the attacks, and said Iran has “no limits” in defending its interests. However, late on Saturday, Iran’s military issued a carefully worded statement suggesting any ceasefire in Israel’s ground offensives in Gaza and Lebanon would trump any possible retaliatory strike.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (Image via Getty)
The strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan, and Tehran provinces, killing four people with the military air defence. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that the victims were all with the military air defence.
The US President Joe Biden told reporters that Israel had informed him before the strikes and that it looked like “they didn’t hit anything but military targets”. He also said that his administration had won assurances from Israel in mid-October that it would not hit nuclear facilities and oil installations. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s nuclear facilities were not impacted.
The US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that “Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange”. Vice President Kamala Harris called for “de-escalation and not an escalation of activities in that region”.
The Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the decision to avoid “strategic and economic targets”, saying that “we could and should have exacted a much heavier price from Iran”. Britain and Germany said Iran should not respond, while a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General condemned the attack.
The strike has been condemned by multiple countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, which called it a violation of Iran’s “sovereignty and a violation of international laws and norms”. Hezbollah and Hamas, militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza, also condemned the attack.
