In his first reaction following an Israeli airstrike on Iranian military sites, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the attack must “neither be exaggerated nor underestimated.”
Speaking at an event in Tehran, Khamenei emphasized the need to “thwart” Israel’s “miscalculations.”
He conveyed a message to the Iranian armed forces, asserting that Iran must make Israel “understand the power, capability, ingenuity, and will of the Iranian nation.”
The attack commenced around 2:30 a.m. local time (23:00 GMT) on Saturday, targeting military facilities in the border provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan and areas surrounding the capital Tehran.
Iran’s armed forces said while most missiles were intercepted by air defense systems, some caused "limited damage,” resulting in the deaths of four soldiers.
It claimed that Israeli fighter jets used airspace controlled by the US in Iraq to launch long-range missiles with “light warheads” at Iranian military sites from approximately 100 kilometers outside Iran's borders.
An Israeli army spokesperson said the airstrike targeted Iran’s missile production facilities, surface-to-air missile systems, and air defense infrastructure.
Khamenei asserted that Israel made a “mistake” by attacking Iran, stating that they “exaggerated” the impact of the strike while also cautioning against underestimating them.
“They are miscalculating regarding Iran. They do not know Iran, they do not know the youth of Iran, they do not know the Iranian nation, and they have not yet properly understood the power, capability, ingenuity, and will of the Iranian nation; this is something we must make clear to them,” he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
Khamenei passed the ball to military officials to decide on an appropriate response to this latest attack, which was the first direct assault by Israel on Iranian soil that has been publicly acknowledged.
Saturday's attack occurred weeks after Iran launched missile strikes on targets in Tel Aviv in what it said was retaliation for the killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Iran had previously warned that any further Israeli attacks would be met with a "harsher response."
On Saturday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Iran feels “obligated” to defend against “foreign aggressive actions” based on the right of legitimate defense enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces also reaffirmed the country's "right to take lawful and legitimate action at an appropriate time," while emphasizing the necessity of a "lasting cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon."
