Iranian commander says Israel may launch ‘small’ attack on Iran

An Iranian military commander said on Tuesday that Israel may carry out a “limited and small” attack on Iran in retaliation for a missile attack on Israel earlier this month, adding that Tehran’s response will depend on the scale of the Israeli strike.

Israel “may launch a desperate, limited and small attack so it can say that it has responded,” Mohammad Ali Jafari, who headed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from 2007 to 2019, told reporters in Tehran.

“Iran’s response will depend on the intensity of the enemy’s strike. A large attack will be met with a larger response,” Jafari said.

“I assure the people [of Iran] that Israel will not make a significant move,” he added.

On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut last month. Tehran also said the missile barrage was in in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

While Israel has claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Nasrallah and Nilforoushan, it has not officially acknowledged involvement in Haniyeh’s death, though it is widely suspected of being behind it.

Israel has vowed to respond to the October 1 attack, with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promising a response that would be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”

Iranian officials have repeatedly warned over the past few weeks that any Israeli attack on Iran will not go unanswered.