Iranian officials are sending mixed signals about how the Islamic republic plans to respond to Israeli strikes within its borders.
Israel launched a strike on a network of military bases south of the capital city of Tehran early Saturday. One of the complexes struck by the missiles, Parchin military base, is believed to have once housed components of the regime’s nuclear program.
The strike, which targeted 20 facilities and reportedly killed four soldiers, generated fear that it would spark an escalation in the exchange of military action between the two Middle Eastern countries.
The Iranian government has vehemently denounced Israel’s actions, but leaders have conveyed conflicting ideas of what a hypothetical response will look like.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said after the strike that Israeli leaders “still haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, capability, ingenuity, and determination of the Iranian people.”
“We need to make them understand these things,” Khamenei said, according to state-affiliated outlet Tasnim News Agency, while falling short of a direct call for violent reaction. The ayatollah instead noted he was deferring to his government for the proper response.
“Of course, our officials should be the ones to assess and precisely apprehend what needs to be done and do whatever is in the best interests of this country and nation. [Israel] must be made to realize who the Iranian people are and what the Iranian youth are like,” he said.
Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami explicitly stated his desire for vengeance, warning of “bitter and unimaginable consequences” for the “illegitimate and unlawful” attack.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic wing of the Iranian government has taken a softer approach — downplaying the harm caused by Israel’s latest attack but pushing for an international response to the violation of their sovereignty.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi issued a letter to the United Nations requesting an immediate meeting to discuss Israel’s “blatant violation of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a breach of the principles of […] the UN Charter.”
“Although the majority of the projectiles were intercepted by Iran’s defense systems, the Zionist regime’s aggressive act caused damage to the targeted sites and, more importantly, resulted in the martyrdom of four members of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces,” Araghchi wrote.
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Last week’s strike in Iran is the latest in a tit-for-tat exchange of attacks that began when the Israel Defense Forces used a remote detonation to kill high-ranking Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in his Tehran guesthouse.
Iran responded on Oct. 1 by firing at least 180 missiles into Israel — an assault that was almost entirely neutralized by the Jewish state’s expansive defense system.
The United States has consistently urged caution and restraint on both sides of the conflict, warning that the continuation of the skirmishes could unintentionally erupt into a broad regional war.