Iran threatens ‘more severe response’ if Israel retaliates against missile attack

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran’s foreign minister threatened a “more severe response” if Israel retaliates against an Iranian missile attack on the country.

“The operation has ended,” Abbas Araghchi said during phone calls with his counterparts from the UK, Germany and France, the state news agency IRNA reported.

“If Israel decides to take retaliatory action, our response will be more severe,” he said.

The top diplomat stressed that Iran “does not seek to escalate tension and war, although it is not afraid of it.”

Araghchi said the missile attack on Israel was an “act of self-defense.”

“We exercised self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, targeting solely military and security sites in charge of genocide in Gaza and Lebanon,” he said in a message posted on his X account with a picture of war-ravaged Gaza.

“We did so after exercising tremendous restraint for almost two months, to give space for a cease-fire in Gaza,” he said.

“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more severe.”

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces also warned in a statement that any retaliatory action by Israel “will result in the destruction of its infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

It also threatened supporters of Israel with “powerful and regrettable attacks” on their centers in the region if they “directly engage” in any Israeli action against Iran.

The Israeli army has been attacking the people of Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 last year and has killed more than 41,600, mostly women and children, and injured over 96,400 others.

The Israeli army has also launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets, killing more than 1,073 people and injuring over 2,950 others since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

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