Iran threatens to respond in “seconds” if Israel counterattacks

The Iranian authorities warned in recent hours that they will respond in “seconds” with “weapons not used until now” in a possible retaliation by Israel for the Iranian attack with drones and missiles on Saturday.

“The Zionists must know that this time they will not have 12 days and the answer they will receive will not be in hours or days, it will be given in seconds,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator said in an interview on state television. , Ali Bagheri Kani.

Bagheri was referring to a possible Israeli retaliation against its archenemy’s attack on Saturday, which was also a response to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

For his part, the spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament, Abolfazl Amouei, stated that Saturday’s attack did not “use significant power” and that they are ready to use new weapons. “We are ready to use weapons not used until now.

“We have plans for all scenarios,” Amouei said, according to the Mehr agency. Yesterday, Israel’s Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said there will be an Israeli “response” to Saturday’s Iranian drone and missile attack, but did not offer further details.

Iran seeks to contain repercussions of its attack

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Hosein Amir Abdolahian, spoke in recent hours with his counterparts from China, the United Kingdom and Oman, as well as with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, among others, in search of diplomatic efforts to contain the repercussions of his attack against Israel.

“In these talks, I explained the clear positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the importance of stable peace and security in the region and preventing the spread of tensions, and clarified the inexorability of national security and national interests. of our country,” Abdolahian said, according to an Iranian foreign statement.

In his conversation with Guterres, he assured that his country had moderated its missile and drone attack on Israel on Saturday, which was retaliation for the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

“While Iran could have carried out this military operation more broadly, it only attacked military positions of the Zionist regime (Israel) from where the Iranian embassy in Damascus was attacked,” Abdolahian told Guterres, according to Iranian Foreign Affairs.

The head of Iranian diplomacy also focused on the war in Gaza: “Aren’t six months of war, crimes and genocide in Israel enough? “When will the international community act to put an end to this genocide and crimes?”