Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel will face a “painful response” if it takes the “slightest action” in retaliation against Tehran’s drone and missile attack over the weekend.
Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel was a response to an April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, which was widely blamed on Israel.
The strike destroyed the five-storey consular annex of the Iranian embassy and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.
“We firmly declare that the slightest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive, and painful response,” Raisi said in a call on Monday with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Raisi stressed that Iran was acting in “self-defense,” and said the operation was against Israeli bases that carried out the consulate strike, a statement from the president’s office said.
Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi vowed on Monday to respond to Iran’s attack, even after appeals for restraint came from world leaders concerned over a wider regional conflict. “This launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs into the territory of the state of Israel will be met with a response,” Halevi told troops at Nevatim airbase, which came under Iran’s barrage
