Iran, Israel rattle sabres

TEL AVIV: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has once again warned Israel against mounting a military counterattack following Iran’s recent air assault on Israel.

During a telephone call with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Raisi warned that ‘‘the slightest action’’ by Israel against Iran’s national interests ‘‘will have extensive and painful consequences’’.

Details of the call were published on the web portal of Iran’s presidential office yesterday.

Iran has recently warned Israel several times not to launch a military response to its largescale attack, in which hundreds of drones and missiles were fired towards Israel on Saturday night (local time).

The Iranian response to any further Israeli action would be ‘‘at least 10 times more drastic’’ than the first attack, the country’s Security Council said in a press release.

Iran fired more than 300 rockets, cruise missiles and drones at Israel at the weekend.

Israel and allied defences intercepted almost all of the incoming fire.

Iran said it was in retaliation to a strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.

So far, Iran has chosen the least severe form of punishment for Israel, the Iranian Security Council said in its press statement yesterday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz launched what he called a ‘‘diplomatic offensive’’ against Iran following the attack.

He called for sanctions to be imposed on Iran’s missile programme and for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be declared a terrorist organisation. Katz also wrote that Israel’s diplomatic campaign against Iran should be flanked by a military response to Teheran’s attack.

Israel’s military leadership has signalled that it does not intend to let the attack go unanswered.

Israeli ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor said the counterattack would be on Iranian military facilities.

The Israeli response would be ‘‘against these military facilities of the mullahs and the ayatollahs,’’ Prosor said on German TV.

But he added that Israel would have to react. It was important for the region that this deterrence ‘‘is very clear’’, he said.

He called on Israel’s allies to impose stricter sanctions on Iran.

While Israel listened to its friends, it had to react to Iran’s attack with more than 300 missiles aimed at killing Israeli civilians, he said.