Iran threatens ‘painful, severe’ response if…

IRAN - Iran has threatened to use ‘weapons it has never used’ in a ‘painful and severe’ response if Israel launches airstrikes in retaliation to Tehran’s weekend salvo.

Israel earlier vowed that it will respond to Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack, amid fears that the Middle East is teetering on the edge of an all-our war.

As the West urged for calmer heads to prevail in the Jewish state, Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee Abolfazl Amoue stated that Iran is ‘prepared to use a weapon that we have never used’ if Israel responds further. Speaking on Monday, he said Israel should consider its next steps and ‘act wisely.’

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also warned Israel it will face a ‘painful response’ if it takes the ‘slightest action’ in response to his country’s attack.

Fears

The threats raise fears that Iran’s lacklustre drone and missile barrage - 99 per cent of which was intercepted by Israel and its allies could further push Tehran to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has several nuclear research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor and uranium processing facilities - including three uranium enrichment plants. A United Nations (UN) report in 2007 found that Iran had halted an alleged nuclear weapons programme in 2003, and a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2018 said it had found no evidence of nuclear weapons activity after 2009.

In 2015, Iran signed up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - or Iran Nuclear Deal - along with countries including the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), France, Russia and China, imposing restrictions on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

However, the agreement took a hit in 2018 when the US - under president Donald Trump - withdrew and imposed new sanctions on Iran under a ‘maximum pressure’ policy, essentially cutting Iran off from the international financial system.

In November 2023, an IAEA report estimated Iran’s uranium stockpile was to be 22 times larger than the limit agreed upon in the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.

In December, the UN’s watchdog warned that Iran had escalated the rate at which it is enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, levels close to weapons-grade.

The report said Iran has enough uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent purity for three atom bombs by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s definition.