Iran’s president has warned against further attacks on his country after Israel targeted military sites in pre-dawn airstrikes on Saturday.
In a statement posted to X, President Masoud Pezeshkian gave his condolences to the families of the four people killed in the attacks and said Iran would continue to defend itself.
“Enemies of Iran should know these brave people are standing fearlessly in defence of their land and will respond to any stupidity with tact and intelligence,” he wrote.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel, as well as surface-to-air missile sites.
Two army soldiers and people walk through Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran on Saturday (Vahid Salemi/AP)
There was no indication oil or nuclear sites were struck and Iran insisted the strikes caused only “limited damage,” state-run media downplaying their impact.
Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend against foreign acts of aggression”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has “no limits” in defending its interests and called for the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for the attacks.
But late on Saturday, Iran’s military issued a carefully worded statement suggesting any ceasefire in Israel’s ground offensives in Gaza and Lebanon would trump any possible retaliatory strike.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the four people killed were all with the military air defence.
The country’s military said the strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces.
US President Joe Biden told reporters Israel had informed him before the strikes and said it looked like “they didn’t hit anything but military targets”.
His administration won assurances from Israel in mid-October that it would not hit nuclear facilities and oil installations. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s nuclear facilities were not impacted.
“I hope this is the end,” Mr Biden said.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, that “Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange,” according to Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump briefly addressed the airstrikes on the campaign trail.
“Israel is attacking – we’ve got a war going on and she’s out partying,” Mr Trump said at a rally in Michigan as Ms Harris was holding an event with Beyonce in Texas.
The vice president called for “de-escalation and not an escalation of activities in that region”.
“I feel very strongly, we as the United States feel very strongly, that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region and we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way,” she told reporters.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the decision to avoid “strategic and economic targets,” saying on X that “we could and should have exacted a much heavier price from Iran.”
Britain and Germany said Iran should not respond while a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General said: “All acts of escalation are condemnable and must stop.”
Saudi Arabia was one of multiple countries in the region condemning the strike, calling it a violation of Iran’s “sovereignty and a violation of international laws and norms.”
Hezbollah and Hamas condemned Israel’s attack.