Iran’s response to Israel will be ‘certain’, says parliament speaker
Iran’s parliament speaker has said Israel’s attacks on his country were a failure when compared with Iran’s October 1 missile attacks and promised that Tehran will retaliate.
“The Zionist regime has no achievement but genocide and the mass murder of defenceless children and women in Gaza and Lebanon, and today, it has no credibility on the international stage,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a televised opening address to a closed-doors meeting to evaluate the Israeli attack.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, in the framework of its inherent right of legitimate self-defence, and Article 51 of the UN Charter, considers itself to have the right to defend itself, and a response to this violation will be certain and in adherence to considerations,” said the former air force commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Ghalibaf called the US “the main partner in all the war crimes” of Israel, and said Washington must “reign in” Israel and push it towards reaching a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to stop the killing of civilians.
The parliament speaker thanked regional neighbours for condemning the Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran says it will not hesitate to respond to Israeli attacks
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said his country “will not hesitate to respond decisively and appropriately to any violation of its territorial integrity and security at the appropriate time” following Israel’s attack on Iran early Saturday.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian made similar remarks on his “X” account late Saturday stating Iran “will respond to any act of foolishness with wisdom and intelligence.”
Araghchi spoke on separate phone calls with his counterparts from Qatar, Egypt, and Syria on Saturday “to exchange views on the latest development in the region,” according to a statement released by Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
The three countries’ foreign ministers condemned Israel’s attacks on several military sites in Iran, the statement said.
They also emphasized the importance of “increasing efforts to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, halt the Zionist regime’s war machine, and restore stability and security to the region,” the ministry statement added.
Araghchi also urged the international community to take effective measures to prevent further escalation in the region.
Iran’s Khamenei says ‘wrong’ to downplay Israel’s attack
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first comments about the “malignant” Israeli air strikes on Iran early Saturday in a meeting with the families of the four members of the armed forces who were killed.
The Israelis try to make the impact of the strikes appear larger than reality, but any move inside Iran to make them appear smaller would also be “wrong”, he said. “It would be wrong for us to say that it was nothing and it did not matter,” Khamenei said.
“The calculation error of the Zionist regime must be disrupted. They do not know Iran, its youth, its nation. They have not yet been able to fully comprehend the power, capabilities, initiative and will of the Iranian nation, we must make them understand it.”
Khamenei also opened a Hebrew account on X after the Israeli strikes.
Khamenei’s statement ‘extremely cautious’
Iran’s supreme leader issued an extremely cautious statement. Following Israel’s attack, the sense was that this was not what Iranians expected. They viewed it as relatively insignificant, and now he is issuing a warning, suggesting that indeed we should not exaggerate its importance – but dismissing it as insignificant is also incorrect.
He emphasised that while it shouldn’t be exaggerated, it shouldn’t be underestimated, either, because Israel’s miscalculations are still ongoing. His reference to these miscalculations suggests that Israel has not yet been deterred. We should keep that in mind.
The previous attacks by Iran on Israel aimed to achieve two things: reestablish deterrence and prevent a regional war.
So, when we look at the tone of the language, it’s noticeably softer than his previous statements following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran or the Israeli bombing of Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria.
However, it remains extremely cautious. He is urging the authorities to stay on alert until deterrence is reestablished.
