Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel’s air strike on Iran was “precise and powerful,” achieving all of its intended objectives.
In a speech at the official memorial ceremony marking Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, Netanyahu said, “Two days ago, we struck the head of the octopus, the Iranian regime.”
“We promised we would respond to the Iranian attack and on Saturday we struck. The attack in Iran was precise and powerful, achieving all of its objectives,” the Israeli PM said. “The regime must understand one simple thing,” he continued, “whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
The Israeli strikes were carried out in response to an attack by Iran on October 1, during which approximately 200 missiles were fired at Israel, although the majority were intercepted by the country’s air defences.
“Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles and this attack failed,” Netanyahu said in his address.
He further added, “We kept our promise. The air force attacked throughout Iran. We hit hard Iran’s defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us.”
Iran confirmed that Israel had targeted military sites in the vicinity of the capital, Tehran, and other provinces, saying that the raids caused “limited damage” but claimed the lives of four soldiers.