She had been expected for several weeks. Israel launched air raids in Iran on Saturday in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile attack on its soil. The Israeli army says it has “precisely” struck military targets on the territory of its sworn enemy. Washington speaks of a “self-defense” operation.
What happened?
The Israeli army said it carried out “precise and targeted” strikes in Iran overnight from Friday to Saturday targeting missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile batteries and other air systems. Iran has confirmed an Israeli attack on military sites in the capital and two other provinces bordering Iraq.
The first detonations rang out around 2:15 a.m. local time (10:45 p.m. GMT Friday), mainly west of Tehran, according to the official Irna news agency. After a series of six detonations reported overnight by state television, continuous detonations accompanied by light trails were heard and seen from the center of Tehran by AFP journalists.
The first six explosions are “linked to the activation of the air defense system against the operation of the Zionist regime which attacked three sites on the outskirts of Tehran”, indicated state television, in reference to Israel that the Islamic Republic does not recognize. In a statement, the Israeli army spokesperson explained that these strikes gave Israel “greater freedom of action” in Iranian airspace.
The Israeli attack caused “limited damage”, according to Iran. “No fire or explosion” was reported at Tehran’s main refinery, local news agency Tasnim said.
Iranian civil aviation briefly suspended all flights in its space. They will “return to normal from 9 a.m. (05:30 GMT) on Saturday,” said the spokesperson for the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization, according to the official Irna news agency. Neighboring Iraq has also suspended all air traffic.
Why these reprisals?
The Israeli strikes were carried out in retaliation for two Iranian attacks. During the last and most important one, on October 1, Iran fired some 200 missiles at Israel, including for the first time hypersonic type projectiles. Tehran had presented this offensive as revenge after Israeli strikes in Lebanon which killed an Iranian general and the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah at the end of September, at the head for more than 30 years of this pro-Iran Islamist movement that Israel faces in Lebanon.
Iranian officials had also invoked a response to the assassination on their territory, attributed to Israel, of Ismaïl Haniyeh, then leader of Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had promised a “deadly, precise and surprising” response to the Iranian attack on October 1.
US President Joe Biden called on his ally in early October to spare Iranian oil sites, while Republican candidate Donald Trump suggested targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Tehran had warned against any attack against its “infrastructure”. On October 14, the Washington Post claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu had told Joe Biden that he planned to strike the Iranian army and not oil or nuclear sites.
What are the reactions?
“We understand that Israel’s targeted strikes against military targets in Iran constitute self-defense maneuvers and come in response to the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1,” Sean Savett, Defense Secretary, said in a statement. – spokesperson for the National Security Council of the American executive branch. “We urge Iran to stop its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,” he later said.
The United States had been informed in advance by Israel of these attacks against Iran, but was not involved in the operation, a US defense official said. A few days earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “very important that Israel responds in a way that does not create further escalation.”
“We will hit you again” in the event of an attack, warned General Hossein Salami, the leader of the Revolutionary Guards, the powerful ideological army responsible for defending the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.