An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, April 14.

Amir Cohen/REUTERS

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Amir Cohen/REUTERS

An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, April 14.

Amir Cohen/REUTERS

ISTANBUL — From President Ebrahim Raisi on down, Iranian officers are heaping reward on the assault the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched in opposition to Israel Sunday. The widespread response comes regardless of Israel saying 99% of Iran’s missiles and drones were intercepted.

Raisi stated the IRGC had “taught a lesson to the Zionist entity,” utilizing Tehran’s most popular time period for Israel.

Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported {that a} prime Iranian lawmaker, Mojtaba Zonnouri, stated the IRGC’s “punitive operation” was a “victory” and “was a cause of pride for the people as it humiliated the Israeli regime.”

At the United Nations in New York, Iran’s Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani declared the operation was “completely in line with the Islamic Republic’s inherent right to self-defense” after an airstrike in Damascus killed seven IRGC members, together with two generals, on April 1. Iran blames Israel for the strike, however Israel has not claimed accountability for it.

Iravani added that Iran’s missiles completely focused “military objectives” and stated Iran had “no intention of engaging in conflict with the U.S.”

Iran’s English-language Press TV information website led with a story primarily based on nameless IRGC sources who claimed that “all hypersonic missiles in Iran’s strikes against Israel hit targets.” That declare couldn’t instantly be confirmed.

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, among the many contributors within the Quds Day ceremonies on April 5 in Tehran. The funeral of Iranian commanders killed in a strike in Syria coincided with this yr’s Quds Day commemorations, held to point out assist for Palestinians.

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

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Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, among the many contributors within the Quds Day ceremonies on April 5 in Tehran. The funeral of Iranian commanders killed in a strike in Syria coincided with this yr’s Quds Day commemorations, held to point out assist for Palestinians.

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Praise for the Iranian assault additionally unfold past Iran itself. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke by cellphone together with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and a few Russian information websites quoted officers who had been fast to applaud the assault too.

Worries about escalation and questions on deterrence

One unprecedented side of the Iranian assault on Israel is that it was not farmed out to proxy militias corresponding to the Houthis in Yemen, numerous militias in Iraq or Hezbollah in Lebanon, though these teams did perform assaults they stated had been in assist of the Palestinians within the Gaza Strip.

In the times between the April 1 strike in Damascus and Iran’s response, Israel made a degree of warning Iran that any assault launched from Iran itself may provoke a retaliatory assault on Iranian soil. That in flip prompted Iranian officers to warn that any strike by Israel could be met with an “even greater” and extra resolute Iranian response.

Tehran additionally had a warning for Washington, saying that if the U.S. used any of its property within the area to help with an Israeli assault, American personnel and bases could be reliable targets for future assault. That warning was seen as probably meant to fan fears overseas of a wider regional battle.

Israeli media reported that the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel’s Negev Desert had been struck however no important harm had been induced. Aside from this, some other potential harm in Israel from the assault to this point is unclear.

Iran was pretty particular about what it was attempting to perform with its assault. The head of Iran’s air power, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, stated the intention was to hit the Nevatim Airbase and the Israel Defense Forces intelligence middle at Mt. Hermon within the northwest. But preliminary stories stated the bottom stays operational, and there aren’t any stories of serious harm to the intelligence middle.

The assault has additionally raised questions each in and outdoors Israel about what latest occasions imply when it comes to Israel’s capacity to deter attacks in opposition to it.

What that will imply for the way in which Washington goes about supporting its closest Middle East ally, and for Israel’s method to sustaining its personal safety, is more likely to be the topic of a lot dialogue and planning over the approaching weeks and months.