Training with a Skylark drone in the Negev, 2013 (Photo by Cpl. Zev Marmorstein, IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Although satellite imagery shows damage to a Russian-made S-300 system, Iranian sources reported that the strikes involved only a few drones with no damage.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the weapons that struck an Iranian military base were like children’s toys and threatened a “maximum” response if Israel wants to pursue “new adventurism” against Iran.
Amir-Abdollahian spoke to several news outlets including NBC following a missile strike early on Friday morning that hit a radar defense system on a military air base in Isfahan.
Although satellite imagery shows damage to a Russian-made S-300 system, Iranian sources reported that the strikes involved only a few drones, rather than missiles, with no damage.
In interviews, Amir-Abdollahian continued to downplay the strike, and he told NBC,”What happened last night was not a strike.”
“They were more like toys that our children play with – not drones.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister was in New York attending a United Nations Security Council session.
He said Iran was not intending any further attacks against Israel.
“As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions,” he said.
The phrase “new adventurism” implies a willingness to show awareness that Israel was behind Friday’s strike without acknowledging it directly, which would require making good on earlier threats.
Israel’s strike was in retaliation for Iran’s unprecedented launching of 350 missiles and drones into Israel, 99.2% were intercepted by Israeli, Jordanian, U.S. and U.K. forces.
Amir-Abdollahian issued a warning to Israel not to take any further actions and said, “If Israel takes a decisive action against my country and this is proven to us our response will be immediate and to the maximum and will cause them to regret it.”
He added that Iran’s attack against Israel could have been much more severe, and said, “We could have hit Haifa and Tel Aviv… We could have also targeted all the economic ports of Israel.”
The direct attacks between Iran and Israel began with the killing of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general in a Damascus airstrike on April 1st.
Although Israel didn’t claim direct responsibility for the strike, it’s widely assumed that Jerusalem was behind the incident.
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