Iran’s response to Israel will be ‘immediate, at maximum level’, FM tells CNN

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says his country’s military reaction would be “immediate and at a maximum level” in case the Israeli regime commits folly again and decides to take a measure against the Islamic Republic.

“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,” Amir-Abdollahian told CNN television news channel in an exclusive interview in New York on Thursday.

His remarks came after Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched extensive missile and drone strikes late Saturday night on the Israeli-occupied territories. The series of retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied lands.

It was in retaliation for the Israeli attack on April 1 against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, located next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district.

The airstrike killed two senior Iranian military personnel who were on an advisory mission to Syria as well as five of their accompanying officers.

Iran: UN condemnation of Israeli airstrike could have 'obviated' retaliation

Iran’s mission to the UN has said that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel’s attack on its consular section in Syrian capital could have prevented the need for retaliation.

IRGC said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the seven martyrs of the terrorist attack.

Speaking from the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Amir-Abdollahian told CNN on Thursday that Iran hopes Israel would not repeat “the previous egregious error.”

“If the Israeli regime commits the grave error once again our response will be decisive, definitive and regretful for them,” Amir-Abdollahian said, noting that this warning had been communicated to the White House via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

“We do not seek to create tension and crisis or increase such situations in the Middle East and we sincerely hope the Israeli regime does not repeat the previous egregious error,” he said.

Amir-Abdollahian underscored that the details of a potential “maximum response” have been planned by Iran’s Armed Forces.

The Iranian foreign minister also said he expects the United States “not to give renewed permission for adventure-seeking Israel.”

“We believe that America will calculate according to messages that were exchanged between us over the past six months,” he pointed out.

Amir-Abdollahian said the intent of the Iranian strike on Israel last weekend was “to warn” and to “have taken equal action” and “to let it (be) known we do have the means to respond.”

He said the more than 300 missiles and drones fired by Iran on Saturday “stayed within a minimum of frameworks” and the action was “legitimate defense” in response to the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate.

“Our operations in response were carried out at a minimum because we were not seeking to hit multiple targets,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

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