Iran | NOW: Israel grossly underestimated Iran's counterattack

United States and Britain on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran as a result of its attack on Israel on Saturday, reports news agency Reuters.

On Saturday, Iran attacked Israel with about 300 drones and missiles. Air defenses by Israel and its allies destroyed almost the entire attack.

“Sanctions target the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards and the Department of Defense and entities with ties to them, as well as Iran's drone and missile programs, which enabled this brazen attack,” said the US president. Joe Biden in his statement.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Iran's attack was unacceptable.

The United States has assured its unwavering support for Israel, but behind the scenes, the relationship between the two countries has been very tense due to Israel's April Fool's Day attack.

Iran's the attack was in retaliation for the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1. The brigadier general was killed in the attack Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

The United States strongly criticized Israel for the attack, which informed the United States of its intentions only moments before it took place. Israel also heavily underestimated Iran's counterattack, says newspaper The New York Times (NYT).

Tensions in the Middle East are now exceptionally high, and the US fears they will lead to full-scale war.

of Israel the attack on Damascus was quite extraordinary both in terms of its targets and its location. Diplomatic areas are not considered acceptable targets even in wartime conditions. The attack killed not only Zahedi, but also two other generals and four officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Despite this, Israel estimates that Iran would make a limited strike through its allies or strike with perhaps ten missiles.

Later, Israeli intelligence specified that Iran would fire 60-70 missiles. So this assessment also fell badly short of the mark.

According to NYT, Israel planned the attack for two months, but informed the United States about it only moments before the missiles were launched. According to documents seen by NYT, the strike had already been approved by the Israeli War Council more than a week earlier, on March 22.

Iran instead made his intentions to strike back very transparent. It announced its intentions publicly and informed the United States well in advance that it intended to strike only military targets. For example, Israel had time to move officers' families and military equipment from its bases.

Communication was difficult because the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations. Messages were relayed between the countries by Oman, Turkey and Switzerland. Iran also stated bluntly that it does not want a full-scale war.

Finally, Iran launched its strikes with drones that move so slowly that they were detected hours before they entered Israeli airspace.

Now the United States seeks to influence Israel to limit its counterattack. Iran has already announced that the matter has now been settled for it, but if Israel responds, Iran will strike back with even greater force.

On Thursday, Iran announced that it may review the guidelines for its nuclear program, Reuters news agency reported. Iran is close to enriching weapons-grade uranium that could be used to make a nuclear weapon.