Iran’s supreme leader downplays impact of attack on Israel

IRANIAN Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed speculation about the effectiveness of Tehran’s recent drone and missile attacks on Israel yesterday.

This indirect acknowledgment suggests that despite the scale of the assault, only a few projectiles reached their intended targets.

Speaking before senior military officials, Khamenei did not address the reported Israeli retaliatory strike on Isfahan, which occurred on Friday.

Despite Iran activating air defenses and grounding commercial flights across a significant part of the country, this topic was not mentioned in his remarks.

Analysts believe that both Iran and Israel, regional archrivals locked in a shadow war for years, are trying to reduce tensions following a series of escalatory attacks.

This comes as Israel’s conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues to inflame the wider region.

Khamenei, 85, made the comments in a meeting attended by the top ranks of Iran’s regular military, police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

“Debates by the other party about how many missiles were fired, how many of them hit the target and how many didn’t, these are of secondary importance,” Khamenei said in remarks aired by state television.

“The main issue is the emergence of the Iranian nation and the Iranian military’s will in an important international arena. This is what matters.”

Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in the April 13 attack, seeking to overwhelm Israel’s air defenses.

This was the first attack on Israel by a foreign power since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.

However, Israeli air defenses and fighter jets, backed by the U.S., the United Kingdom and neighboring Jordan, shot down the vast majority of the incoming fire.

Satellite images analyzed Saturday by The Associated Press (AP) showed that the Iranian attack caused only minor damage at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel.

This included taking a chunk out of a taxiway that Israel quickly repaired.

Iran’s attack was in response to a suspected Israeli strike on April 1 targeting a consular building next to the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which killed two Guard generals and others.

“Today, thanks to the work done by our armed forces, the Revolutionary Guard, the army, the police, each in its own way, praise be to Allah the image of the country around the world has become commendable,” added Khamenei, despite Iran facing public anger over its economy and crackdowns on dissent.