Iran has responded to Israel!

Iran has finally responded to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1st April 2024.

Missiles seen in skies above Tel Aviv. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images. From The Guardian.

As you have probably heard, in the night between 13th and 14th April 2024 Iran and its allied militias in other countries (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen) launched waves of drones and salvos of cruise and ballistic missiles towards Israel, in response to Israeli bombing of Iranian consulate in Damascus (Syria) on Monday 1st April 2024, as reported by several news outlets, such as The Guardian and Al Mayadeen. This is the first time that Iran launches a direct full-scale military assault against Israel!

Before delving into the latest developments, I would like to remind readers that this is not “an unlawful Iranian attack against Israel”, as most of Western governments and MSM are trying to frame it, but, as per Article 51 of the UN Charter (reported below, with my emphasis), it is an act of self-defense that follows an unprovoked armed attack against Iran, a member of the United Nations (UN):

Article 51

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Also, let’s not forget that on Thursday 4th April 2024 the UN Security Council (UNSC) convened to discuss the Israeli bombing of its consulate in Damascus, but the Outlaw US Empire and two of its vassals, United Kingdom (UK) and France, blocked a Russian resolution condemning that attack, as reported by Al Arabiya.

Having said that, let’s get into the details of recent events.

Last night, before going to sleep, I edited my previous post with an update about the drone attack that at that time just started.

In my update in the post above I said that Iran had not confirmed the drone attack yet and I was speculating about it: if it was “either a small demonstration of force or a diversionary move by Iran” or even “a false flag, arranged by Israel and the Outlaw US Empire”. However, since then, Iran has confirmed the attack: as reported by Al Mayadeen, first Iranian TV announced “the start of a widespread drone attack launched by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC] on Israeli targets in occupied Palestine”, then the IRGC released the following statements [all emphasis mine]:

In response to the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, we have launched dozens of drones and missiles toward Israeli targets.

Our Aerospace Force targeted the occupied Palestinian territories with dozens of missiles and drones.

IRGC codenames its retaliatory attack against "Israel" Operation Truthful Promise.

The drone attack was decided upon by the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and under the supervision of the Armed Forces General Staff.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the attack involved not only drones, but also cruise and ballistic missiles. Drones were launched first, in several waves, to saturate Israeli air defences; cruise and ballistic missiles, faster than drones and meant to harm Israeli military targets, followed after a few hours.

While the attack was ongoing, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, released the following statement from his bunker, as reported by The Guardian:

From The Guardian.

The fourth paragraph of the statement above suggests that Israel may retaliate soon, thus further escalating the current situation in the Middle East.

In the meantime, the President of the Outlaw US Empire (PotOUSE), Joe Biden, cut short a trip to Delaware and returned to the White House, where he convened the National Security Council, whose spokesperson confirmed the support of the Outlaw US Empire to Israel, as reported by The Guardian:

From The Guardian.

Soon after, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations released the following statement on X (formerly Twitter), as in response to earlier statements from Israel and the Outlaw US Empire:

From X (formerly Twitter).

To be honest, this sounds quite fair to me and, if I were Benjamin Netanyahu, considering that the attack did not cause much damage in Israel (more later on this), I would not exacerbate the situation even further. But let’s carry on with the analysis of the events…

While drones on their way to Israel were shot down by US Navy, USAF (US Air Force), British RAF (Royal Air Force) and even Jordanian military forces, the IRGC released a new statement, as reported by The Guardian:

Any threat by the United States and the Zionist regime originating from any country will result in a proportional and reciprocal response from Iran towards the origin of the threat.

This sounds like a response to Jordan, an Arab and prevalently Sunni Muslim country, downing Iranian drones.

It is worth noting that RAF jets defending Israel were scrambled from their base in Akrotiri (Cyprus), as reported by Cyprus Mail, thus putting at risk a third country (Cyprus), which is not involved in the current crisis in the Middle East, except for helping to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

At the same time, several western countries, such as Canada, France, Germany and UK were quick to condemn Iran for its attack against Israel, supporting the latter and its right to defend itself, as reported by The Guardian, though they failed to condemn Israel for its unlawful attack against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1st April. Not only that, but Joe Biden said that he will convene with G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to “Iran’s brazen attack”, as reported by Al Mayadeen, whereas Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN had the audacity to request that the UNSC hold an emergency meeting to condemn Iran’s attack against Israel:

From X (formerly Twitter).

Let me remind you once again that on 4th April 2024 the Outlaw US Empire, UK and France blocked a Russian resolution at the UNSC condemning the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus three days before. Now Israel wants the UNSC to condemn Iran for its act of self-defense!

As reported by The Guardian, a spokesperson for Malta, which holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC this month, said that the will hold an emergency meeting today at 22:00 CEST. We will see if the Outlaw US Empire or one of its vassal states at the UNSC will dare to draft a resolution condemning Iran, as requested by Israel: if they do, I am pretty sure that either Russia or China, if not both, will veto it.

In spite of public words of condemnation against Iran, Joe Biden told privately to Netanyahu that the Outlaw US Empire will not participate in offensive operations against Iran and that it opposes any Israeli counterattack against Iran, according to a CNN report. Nevertheless, as reported by the Jerusalem Post, Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary of the Outlaw US Empire, said:

We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of Israel.

…while the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, tweeted on X the following statement:

From X (formerly Twitter).

By sunrise the Iranian attack finished. Airspace in Israel and surrounding countries (namely Iraq and Jordan) was reopened soon afterwards. A spokesperson of the Israeli “Defense” Forces (IDF) was quick to state that Iran’s attack on Israel was foiled, as reported by The Guardian:

From The Guardian.

Nevertheless the IDF had to admit that a few ballistic missiles managed to get through their air defences, even despite reinforcements sent by western allies, and that their air force base in Nafatim suffered minor damage.

It may seem little, but it was enough for the IRGC chief, Hossein Salami, to state:

[The o]peration was a great success, exceeded our expectations.
The zionist entity must learn a lesson from what happened.

as per Al Mayadeen.

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Let’s stop the chronicle here for the moment and let's try to understand who is right: Israel or Iran?

First of all, we need to understand that Iran’s attack was more demonstrative than anything else, meaning that it was not planned to cause extensive damage, but it was more than symbolic.

Secondly, Iran brought real war in the Israeli sky, with a scale not comparable to what Israel has faced so far (i.e. Hamas “toy” rockets and Hezbollah’s volleys) - the psychological impact was huge, so huge that Netanyahu had to hide himself in a bunker, whereas on 7th October 2023 he stayed in his comfortable house.

Thirdly, as I mentioned early, Iranian missiles managed to reach Israeli territory, in spite of highly technological defenses, reinforced by the Outlaw US Empire, UK, Jordan and even France (according to The Guardian, citing an IDF official)… yet we are supposed to believe that Israel failed to prevent Hamas attack on 7th October 2023 (most likely it was a LIHOP operation, i.e. Let It Happen On Purpose, in my humble opinion).

In any case, by hitting and damaging the IDF air force base in Nafatim (no matter the scale of the damage), Iran demonstrated its capability of getting through Israeli air defenses and reaching its objective: striking the base whence the attack against the Iranian consulate in Damascus originated.

If Biden told privately Netanyahu that the Outlaw US Empire “will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran in response”, as per CNN report, this means that they are aware that Iran can inflict a huge damage to Israel, though at a very high cost.

By the way, Israeli media reported that the cost of one night of repelling Iranian attack was more than $1.3 billion, according to Al Mayadeen, meaning that also Israel faced a very high cost! [UPDATE: Here is a comparison of the costs of Iranian attack and Israeli air defense. If you do not trust the Iranian source, here is the Israeli one]

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At this point it is worth quoting Iranian President, Sayyid Ebrahim Raisolsadati:

Defense measure executed by armed forces is our natural right to defend our country in response to Zionist aggression on our interests.

In past months, Iran made use of all regional and international avenues to caution international community of danger of UNSC's inaction.

Iranian measure was smart, well-planned; Iranian missiles and drones targeted Zionist occupation's military bases.

Peace and stability in the region are essential to our national security, we will spare no efforts to restore peace and stability.

…as well as Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, which was quoted by both The Guardian…

Our response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran.

…and Al Mayadeen:

We sent a message to the US saying that if it cooperates with "Israel" in next movements then its bases will not have any security.

Earlier today Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, has told foreign ambassadors in Tehran that Iran informed several countries, such as neighbouring countries, Turkey and the Outlaw US Empire, well beforehand, as reported by The Guardian (see here, here and here). This explains why neighbouring countries closed their airspace yesterday evening, hours before the attack started, and why several other countries stopped air travel to the region and/or advises their citizen to avoid travelling to Israel and Iran in the past few days.

As I write (at ~16:30 CEST), the Israeli war cabinet is taking place. This comprises Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and retired army general Benny Gantz: it will decide what to do next - either do nothing or respond to Iran, thus further escalating the crisis in the Middle East, despite warnings from the Outlaw US Empire not to do so.
Just before it started, Benny Gantz said:

We will build a regional coalition and exact the price from Iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us.

(source: The Guardian)

Not very encouraging!

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Before concluding, I would like to share my thoughts on this: we know that Iran warned neighbouring countries, the Outlaw US Empire and Turkey, but most likely Iran also consulted with Russia and China (all three members of BRICS+), to make sure that it had its back covered, in case the situation in the Middle East heats up, following the attack last night. For more information about their alliance/partnership, I suggest that you read this article:

All for One and One for All

I will conclude this long article with the following meme:

From X (formerly Twitter).

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UPDATE (15/04/2024): Just a minor update to add a few recent interesting articles that analyze what happened between Israel and Iran in the night between Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th April:

• some “preliminary observations” from Aleks here;

• an excellent and detailed analysis from Simplicius The Thinker here;

• a short overview from former CIA analyst, Larry C. Johnson, here;

• a brief analysis of the consequences of the event from Karl Sanchez here;

• a take on how Russian media dealt with the event from Gilbert Doctorow here;

• another “Russian assessment […] of the Iran operation against Israel” by John Helmer here.