Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, a US official told CNN, in a development that pushes the region closer to all-out conflict. After reports of explosions were reported in Iran, Israel had said it had "no comment".
According to reports from Iranian semi-official FARS news, multiple explosions were heard near a military base in Isfahan province where fighter jets are located. It added that Iranian air defences were activated in several provinces.
Hours before the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN that if Israel took any further military action against Iran, it would respond immediately and at a "maximum level".
However, after the attack, Iran said it has no plan for immediate retaliation against Israel, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday.
Israel had for days been weighing its response to Iran's unprecedented weekend strikes, most of which were intercepted by Israel and its allies in the West. Iran launched the attack in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria earlier this month.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described it as a “slap” in the face of Israel despite it not doing serious damage or inflicting any casualties.
The weapons, launched from Iran, crossed Iraqi and Jordanian airspace. We now know that the timing of the attack was leaked, giving Israel’s air defences time to get ready. This prevented heavy losses and the severe retaliation that could have followed with US support.
The impact of the ‘Night of the Drones’ was always likely to be more political than military. This was, after all, Iran’s first direct attack on Israel.
The nuanced messaging was directed mainly at an international audience—Washington, in particular.
Tehran’s justification for the action was unambiguous: it was retaliation for Israel’s bombing of the consulate, killing several senior commanders of the country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Read more: Two Israeli air strikes and two Syrian mothers and sons
Calibrated action
The mission’s aims were framed around altering the terms of negotiation over the future of the people of Gaza after the war concludes, the so-called ‘day after’.
Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Baqeri called the drone and missile strikes “a warning”. However, this term led to confusion since warnings usually precede a state's military action rather than follow it.
In New York, meanwhile, Iran's UN representative Amir Saeid Iravani commented while the drone attack was still in progress, saying Iran now considered its retaliation to have ended and that the matter was "closed".
The premature timing of this declaration was taken as a sign that Iran was concerned about retaliation from Israel and the United States, prompting a wider regional war.
After 7 October, Israelis feel wounded and vulnerable. They last faced a concerted attack from the air by a regional state actor in 1991, when Saddam Hussein fired 42 Scud missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa.
