ReutersIran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave a limited response to Israel's strikes on the country, saying the attacks should not be “exaggerated or downplayed” while refusing to promise immediate retaliation.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would “give an appropriate response” to the attack, which killed at least four soldiers, adding that Tehran did not seek war.
Israel said it targeted military sites in several Iranian regions on Saturday in retaliation for Iran's attacks, including a barrage of nearly 200 missiles fired at Israel on October 1.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had disabled Iran's air defense and missile production systems. He said the strikes had “severely damaged Iran's defense capability and its ability to produce missiles”.
“The attack was precise and powerful and it achieved its goals,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
“This government must understand a simple principle: whoever hurts us, we hurt him.”
Official Iranian sources have publicly downplayed the impact of the attack, saying many missiles were intercepted and those that did not caused limited damage to air defense systems.
In his first public remarks since the attack, Khamenei said: “It is up to the authorities to decide how to transfer the power and will of the Iranian people to the state of Israel and take measures that are consistent with the needs of this nation and the country.” ”
He used a more moderate tone compared to the earlier fiery and dangerous language. In the past, he has threatened to “flatten Haifa and Tel Aviv” if Israel attacks Iran, or to “hit Israel 10 times if he hits once”.
It is unethical for Khamenei to entrust responsibility to the “authorities”, such as the chief administrator. He has consistently influenced major political decisions over the past 35 years as the supreme leader, undermining the role of the president. This may be an attempt to avoid appearing weak by not responding quickly or to defy suspicion if retaliation could result in a shootout.
President Pezeshkian echoed Khamenei's language, telling a cabinet meeting: “We don't want war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and our country.”
The Israeli strikes were more limited than they expected. The US had publicly pressured Netanyahu's government not to strike oil and nuclear facilities, advice that Israel seems to have heeded.
Iran's foreign minister on Sunday said Iran had “received indications” about the impending attack before it happened.
“We had received indications since the evening about the possibility of an attack that night,” Abbas Araghchi told reporters, without elaborating.
The West has urged Iran not to respond in order to break the cycle of escalation between the two countries in the Middle East, which they fear could lead to a regional war.
Iranian media carried a video of daily life continuing as normal and framing the “limited” damage as a victory, which analysts said was intended to reassure the Iranian people.
Fighting continued between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza.
On Sunday, an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon killed at least eight people, according to local authorities. On Sunday, Lebanon said at least 21 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south of the country.
In Gaza, nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school turned shelter in the al-Shati refugee camp, Palestinian officials said. Palestinian media and the Reuters news agency said three of the dead were Palestinian journalists, citing government officials.
And in Israel, a man was killed and at least 30 were injured afterwards the truck hit the bus stop near an Israeli military base north of Tel Aviv, in what authorities said was a terrorist attack.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza, which would include the exchange of four Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
He said that within ten days, discussions like these should be started, with the aim of having permanent discussions.
But speaking to the BBC's Arabic Service, a senior Hamas official said its terms for an end to the war – rejected by Israel for months – had not changed.
Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinian militia continued to demand an end to the fighting, Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza and a serious prisoner exchange agreement.
“Any agreement that does not guarantee these conditions is useless,” he added.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas following the group's unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 42,924 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry run by Hamas in the area.
Additional reporting by Parham Ghobadi, BBC Persian
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