Iran threatens retaliation if Israel launches strikes on nuclear sites

Tehran’s first direct attack on Israel was in retaliation for an April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital

TEHRAN/JERUSALEM: A senior Revolutionary Guards general threatened on Thursday to target Israel’s “nuclear facilities” if it strikes Iranian atomic sites, state media reported, anticipating retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented weekend attack.

Israel’s military chief has vowed a response to the Iranian aerial attack, which was mostly intercepted, while world leaders have urged de-escalation.

Tehran’s first direct attack on Israel, launched late Saturday, was in retaliation for an April 1 air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals.

Israeli officials have not said when or where the country would retaliate, but Ahmad Haghtalab, the Guards’ head of nuclear protection and security, said Iran would “definitely” reciprocate any attack on nuclear sites. “If the Zionist regime (Israel) wants to take action against our nuclear centres and facilities, it will definitely and surely face our reaction,” the official news agency IRNA quoted Haghtalab as saying. “For the counterattack, the nuclear facilities of the (Israeli) regime will be targeted and operated upon with advanced weaponry.”

‘Middle East on a precipice’

The international community has urged de-escalation since Iran’s attack, which came after months of violence involving Israel and Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. “The Middle East is on a precipice,” UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday.

“One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable — a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,” he told the UN Security Council.