Iran says it could have destroyed Israel in Saturday's attack but opted for 'limited' action

The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisistated this Wednesday that his country could have destroyed Israel in Saturday's attack with hundreds of missiles and drones, but that it opted for a “limited” attack.

“(Operation) 'True Promise' was a limited and not comprehensive action. “If it had been a large-scale action, there would be nothing left of the Zionist regime (Israel),” Raisí said during a speech on the occasion of National Army Day.

(Operation) 'True Promise' was a limited and non-comprehensive action. If it had been a large-scale action, there would be nothing left of the Zionist regime (Israel).

In front of Raisí, troops from the Iranian Armed Forces, as well as drones, armored vehicles and missiles paraded in Tehran, parades that were repeated in other cities in an exhibition of the country's military power.

“If the Zionist regime commits the slightest aggression in our land, it will receive a fierce and severe response.”warned again the president, who in recent days has repeated threats against Israel.

This Tuesday he warned that the “minimal action” against Iranian interests will receive a “harsh, broad and painful response against the perpetrator.

Iranian authorities have insisted that The attack was “necessary, proportional and directed at military objectives” to create “deterrence capacity”, in response to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on the 1st. of April.

The Iranian Air Force joined the warnings this Wednesday and warned that they have the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets ready to “hit targets” if the “enemy” makes strategic errors.

For its part, the Iranian Navy reported that it is escorting its country's commercial ships from the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, to the Suez Canal, along the entire Red Sea.

He indicated that The destroyer Jamaran is currently in the Gulf of Aden.

Israel under international pressure

Iranian leaders have raised the tone of their warnings against Israel and Western countries over a possible response from Tel Aviv to Saturday's attack, which Tehran says targeted military targets.

At the same time, The United States and the European Union are considering new sanctions against Iran for the unprecedented attack against the Jewish State.

However, the international community redoubled pressure on Wednesday to prevent violent reprisals by Israel against Iran that could inflame the situation in the Middle East.

Israel has expressed its determination to respond to the unprecedented Iranian attack on Saturday, despite the fact that almost all of the 350 drones and missiles launched were intercepted with the help of the United States and other countries.

After the Iranian attack, cross-threats have multiplied, in a very tense regional context since the beginning in October of the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, supported by Iran.

The entire world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat of the Iranian regime, which seeks to undermine the stability of the entire region.

This Wednesday, The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, took advantage of their visit to Israel to ask for restraint.

“We hope” that Israel will react “in a way that contributes as little as possible to an escalation, and in a way that is both intelligent and tough,” declared Cameron, who together with Baerbock met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his counterpart Israel Katz.

The German minister indicated that she had come to speak with Israeli leaders about how to “avoid a new regional escalation.”

“The entire world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat of the Iranian regime, which seeks to undermine the stability of the entire region,” Herzog said in a statement published by his office.

INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL

*With information from EFE and AFP