A senior Revolutionary Guards general threatened on Thursday to target Israel's 'nuclear facilities' if it strikes Iranian atomic sites, state media reported, anticipating retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented weekend attack.
A member of the Israeli military stands next to an Iranian ballistic missile which fell in Israel on the weekend, during a media tour at the Julis military base near the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi on April 16, 2024. Iran carried out an unprecedented direct attack on Israel overnight April 13-14, using more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Tehran's first direct attack on Israel, launched late Saturday, was in retaliation for an April 1 air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals. "For the counterattack, the nuclear facilities of the regime will be targeted and operated upon with advanced weaponry."
The Islamic republic, which has always insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful and denies seeking an atomic bomb, has accused arch foe Israel of sabotage attacks on its facilities and assassinations of nuclear scientists in recent years.Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in 2019 that Iran could have developed nuclear weapons but would not do so because Islam forbids their use.
But Iran has since gradually reduced its commitment to the terms imposed by the 2015 accord, and diplomatic efforts to revive it have long stalled as some sanctions have been re-imposed. Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace unit that led the attack on Israel, said on Thursday that Iran had only used "old weapons and minimal power" for it.
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