Iran vows to strike back within 'seconds' if Israel retaliates

Following Iran's unprecedented massive attack using drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles targeting Israel, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi stressed that the country will respond appropriately.

Reuters news agency quoted an Israeli government source as saying that on April 15, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to consider how to respond to the first direct attack from Iranian territory on Israel.

For his part, speaking on state television on the evening of April 15, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said that if Israel accepted the answer they received on the evening of April 13 (Iran's attack), Tehran would not take any action.

However, according to Mr. Kani, for whatever reason Israel takes action, no matter how small, against Iranian territory, against the Iranian people, against Iran's interests, Israel will face a fierce and harsh reaction.

“It will not take Iran 12-13 days to respond, but within seconds,” Mr. Kani stressed.

Iran accused Israel of destroying the consular building of the Iranian Embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, killing seven officers of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two senior commanders - an act that Tel Aviv has neither acknowledged nor denied.

In retaliation, on the evening of April 13, Iran launched a massive attack on Israel using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, launched from Iran as well as Iranian bases in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.

In a video posted on the Israeli Defense Ministry's X social media account on the morning of April 16, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said that in the attack on the evening of April 13, Iran launched more than 350 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

However, with the help of the US, UK, France and Jordan, Israel shot down 99% of those weapons.

Iran's unprecedented attack on the evening of April 13 raised concerns about an open war between the country and Israel, which could then develop into a regional war.

Wary of the dangers, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would not participate in any Israeli retaliation against Iran.

A White House official told Axios that in a phone call with Netanyahu on April 14, President Biden said that the joint defense efforts of the US and other countries in the region had caused Iran's attack to fail.

"You had a victory. Accept it," Mr. Biden stressed, making it clear that the US would not participate in any Israeli attack campaign in response to Iran, nor would it support it.

According to the above source, in response, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he understood this.

Then on April 15, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also announced in a brief press conference that the US "does not want to see a war with Iran" nor "does not want to see a regional conflict".

In a similar view to Washington, many other allies and partners of Israel also spoke out calling on Tel Aviv to exercise restraint.