Iran issues a warning against reprisal, but Netanyahu says Israel would choose how to react

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, dismissed appeals for moderation from close friends, asserting that Israel will choose whether and how to react to Iran’s massive airstrike earlier this week.

After months of conflict in Gaza, the region is preparing for additional escalation as Israel has pledged to retaliate to Iran’s unprecedented onslaught.

Israel has been advised by its friends to delay launching a potentially catastrophic counterattack.

The president of Iran issued a warning, stating that even the slightest incursion of its land would result in a “massive and harsh” reaction, which prompted international pressure.

Following the suspected Israeli attack that claimed the lives of two Iranian generals, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel over the weekend.

Although Iran and Israel have been engaged in a protracted shadow war, this was Iran’s first actual military assault on Israel.

Israel claims that almost all of the missiles and drones were intercepted by it and its allies.

While speaking at an annual army parade that was rerouted and not carried live on state television, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi cautioned Israel from taking any revenge, presumably to avoid being singled out.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel
Israel decides to respond to Iran’s strike and hopes for a modest escalation: David Cameron, the foreign minister of the United Kingdom
Speaking via Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, Raisi said that the strike over the weekend was contained and that if Iran had chosen to launch a larger operation, nothing would remain from the Zionist regime

Since the current Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7, when two terrorist organizations supported by Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, carried out a cross-border offensive that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of 250 more, tensions in the region have escalated.

In response, Israel launched an attack in Gaza that, according to local health professionals, has killed over 33,800 people and left huge amounts of destruction in its wake.