Shortly before Israel launched their retaliation for last weekend's drone attack on the Jewish state, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Iran would launch their own "immediate" response at a "maximum level."
On Saturday, Iran launched 185 one-way suicide drones, 110 surface-to-surface missiles, and 36 cruise missiles toward Israel on Saturday, though many were stopped by Israel's air defense system dubbed the Iron Dome. The attack was in response to the death of Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike earlier this month.
Shortly before Israel launched their late-Thursday retaliation, Amir-Abdollahian warned Iran would launch another attack on the Jewish state while speaking with CNN after attending a United Nations (UN) meeting.
“In case the Israeli regime embarks on adventurism again and takes action against the interests of Iran, the next response from us will be immediate and at a maximum level,” he said. “It will be decisive. Our response will be decisive through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.”
The Iranian foreign minister said Iran has already made their plan clear to the White House and Washington, D.C.
"If the Israeli regime commits that grave error once again, our response will be decisive, definitive, and regretful for that,” Amir-Abdollahian added. “We do not seek to create tension and crisis or increase such situations in the Middle East, and we sincerely hope that the Israeli regime does not repeat the previous egregious error.”
Amir-Abdollahian went on to claim last Saturday's attack on Israel was the "minimum" of what Iran was capable of.
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“Why do we call it carried out at a minimum? Because it was geared towards two military targets, one the Innova Team Air Base and the other one an intelligence and information center,” he said. “We did not target economic and financial centers, civilian centers, only the two locations from which F-35 aircraft were flown, took off from there, and targeted the embassy building in the Golan.”
“This was our minimum response. But in case of a repeated adventure-seeking and adventurism of the Israeli regime, what will our maximum response be? I can only say that it will be carried out at a maximum level, and it will be regretful for them,” he continued. “The details have been planned by the armed forces of my country. However, I do hope that Israel does not commit a grave error in calculating this.”
Late Thursday, Israel launched a retaliatory attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israeli missiles have struck sites inside Iran, according to ABC News.
Iran subsequently suspended flights in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz as other commercial passenger flights were immediately rerouted and left the country, including some that were preparing for arrival in Iran.