In this image taken from video shows projectiles being intercepted over Jerusalem, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
TEHRAN (Xinhua/AP) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said the country's military action against Israel has concluded but warned that if Israel retaliates, Tehran’ response would be "stronger and more powerful."
He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X early Wednesday while elaborating on a missile attack by Iran Tuesday night against targets inside Israel.
Araghchi said Iran on Tuesday evening "exercised self-defense" under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, "targeting solely military and security sites in charge of genocide in Gaza and Lebanon."
He added Iran took the action after exercising "tremendous restraint for almost two months, to give space for a ceasefire in Gaza."
Iran's action was concluded unless Israel would decide to "invite further retaliation," a scenario in which Tehran's response would be "stronger and more powerful," he said.
Araghchi said Israel's "enablers now have a heightened responsibility to rein in the warmongers in Tel Aviv instead of getting involved in their folly."
People take cover on the side of the road as a siren sounds a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran on a freeway in Shoresh, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said in statements on Tuesday that it launched dozens of ballistic missiles on strategic centers in Israel in retaliation for Israel's assassinations of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and senior IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, as well as its intensification of "malicious acts" with the U.S. support in its offensives against Lebanese and Palestinian peoples.
Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Tuesday that if Israel "dares respond, our subsequent actions would be far more severe, and we would use a more advanced array of the missiles that we have at our disposal."
Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said Wednesday that the Revolutionary Guard was prepared both defensively and offensively to repeat its missile attack with “multiplied intensity.”
“If the Zionist regime, that has gone insane, is not contained by America and Europe and intends to continue such crimes, or do anything against our sovereignty or territorial integrity, tonight’s operation will be repeated with much higher magnitude and we will hit all their infrastructure,” he said.
Bagheri said Iran avoided targeting Israeli civilians although it was “completely feasible.”