Iran has ‘prepared response’ if Israel attacks

A military source in Iran was quoted as saying on Sunday that Tehran has prepared its response in the event that Israel launches an attack on its territory. Last Tuesday, Iran fired 200 rockets towards Israel in the second attack of its kind in six months.

According to Tehran, the attack was “revenge” for the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital on 31 July in what is assumed widely to have been an Israeli operation, as well as the killing of the secretary-general of Hezbollah in Beirut, Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli raid on 27 September. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard official was also killed in the Beirut attack.

Israel vowed that Iran would pay a heavy price for its rocket attack, while Tehran warned that its response to any attack would be harsher than Tuesday’s strike. “The necessary response plan to any potential Zionist action is fully ready,” the source told Tasnim news agency, “and if Israel acts, there will undoubtedly be an Iranian counterstrike.” He added that Iran has “a bank of many targets inside Israel,” noting that Tuesday’s strike “showed that we can destroy any point we want and level it to the ground.”

The source claimed that, “There are various types of specific counter-strikes in Iran’s plan, and depending on the type of Zionist action, an immediate decision will be made to implement one or more of them.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Damascus on Saturday and warned that Iran would respond “perhaps more strongly” to any attack on Tehran. “For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and perhaps even stronger.”

While it is not clear what the Israeli response might be, US President Joe Biden urged Israel last Friday to avoid targeting Iranian oil facilities, while Republican White House candidate Donald Trump stressed that Tel Aviv should strike Iranian nuclear sites.

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad visited a major oil site on Sunday. Shana, the Oil Ministry’s news agency, reported that the minister went to visit the facilities and meet operational staff on Kharg Island. This island, in the Persian Gulf, hosts Iran’s largest crude oil export terminal.

Paknejad also visited the Gulf coastal city of Asaluyeh on Saturday. He went to the major petrochemical industry centre on a “regular business trip,” reported Iranian state television.

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