Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was finished barring further provocation, while Israel and the US promised to retaliate against Tehran’s escalation as fears of a wider war intensified.
The US said it would work with longtime ally Israel to make sure Iran faced “severe consequences” for Tuesday’s attack.
The United Nations Security Council scheduled a meeting about the Middle East for Wednesday, and the European Union called for an immediate ceasefire.
“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Wednesday.
What we know about Iran’s missile attack on Israel
In its biggest-ever military action against Israel, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles on Tuesday, according to Israel.
Sirens sounded across the country and explosions rattled Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley as the entire population was told to hide in bomb shelters.
Iran said it used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel.
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said central and southern Israel received limited strikes. A video released by the military showed a school in the central city of Gadera heavily damaged by an Iranian missile.
Israel’s military was not aware of any injuries from the Iranian missile attacks, Hagari said. But the Palestinian civil defence authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said a man was killed near Jericho and falling rocket debris had caused damage and started fires in the area.
Israel’s Iron Dome defence system was in operation during the missile attacks and its military chief Herzi Halevi said the barrage had been blunted partly by “a very strong aerial defence array”.
US Navy warships fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles headed toward Israel, the Pentagon said. Britain said its forces played a part “in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East” without elaborating.
Iran described the campaign as defensive and solely aimed at Israeli military facilities. Iran’s state news agency said three Israeli military bases had been targeted.
Tehran said its attack was responding to Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon against the Iran-backed armed movement Hezbollah and in Gaza.
Rockets fired from Iran to Israel are seen over Jerusalem. Source: Getty / Anadolu
How did Israel react?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran had made a “big mistake” and vowed “it will pay for it” at the outset of a security cabinet meeting.
“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies,” he said.
Hagari said the attack would have consequences, as did Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon.
“As we have previously made clear to the international community, any enemy that attacks Israel should expect a painful response,” Danon said in a statement.
Israel’s military said it would continue “powerful strikes” through Tuesday night throughout the Middle East after Iran’s strike, Israeli media reported.
In the Lebanese capital Beirut, Israeli strikes killed the commander of the Imam Hussein division, Israel’s military said, referring to a Hezbollah-linked group based in Syria.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters the order to launch missiles at Israel had been made by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei remains in a secure location, the senior official added.
Oil prices shot up 5 per cent on the news of the Iranian missile strikes, which raise the prospect of a wider war between the two arch-enemies.
How the world responded
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian government “condemns” Iran’s actions on Wednesday, reiterating calls for a ceasefire.
“There’s been too much loss of life in that region,” Albanese said.
“Israel, of course, has a right to defend itself. What we have called for consistently is for a de-escalation.”
US President Joe Biden expressed full US support for Israel and described Iran’s attack as “ineffective.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for US president, backed Biden’s stance and said the US would not hesitate to defend its interests against Iran.
“I’m clear-eyed [that] Iran is a destabilising, dangerous force in the Middle East,” Harris said.
The White House similarly promised “severe consequences” for Iran and spokesman Jake Sullivan told a Washington briefing the US would “work with Israel to make that the case.”
Sullivan did not specify what those consequences might be, but he stopped short of urging restraint by Israel as the US did in April when Iran carried out a drone and missile attack on Israel. The Pentagon said Tuesday’s airstrikes by Iran were about twice the size of April’s assault.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Iran’s attack in a statement released on X.
“I utterly condemn this attempt by the Iranian regime to harm innocent Israelis,” he said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X that the “EU condemns in the strongest terms Iran’s attack against Israel”.
“The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks to spiralling out of control. An immediate ceasefire across the region is needed,” he said.
UN secretary-general António Guterres condemned what he called “escalation after escalation”, saying: “This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”
In a post on X, Israel criticised Guterres for not holding “Iran responsible for firing 181 ballistic missiles at 10 million Israeli civilians”.
Search and rescue teams operate after an attack on the Palestinian refugee camp Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon, Lebanon. Source: AAP / STR/EPA
‘Limited’ ground offensive in Lebanon
Israel said overnight that its troops had launched ground raids into Lebanon, though it described them as “limited”.
But a ground campaign into Lebanon for the first time in 18 years pitting Israeli soldiers against Hezbollah, Iran’s best-armed proxy force in the Middle East, would be a major regional escalation.
Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Tuesday killed 55 people and wounded 156, the country’s health ministry said.
More than a thousand Lebanese people have been killed and a million have fled their homes in weeks of intense Israeli airstrikes.
Monday will mark one year since Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
It also marks one year since Israel launched its ongoing retaliatory assault on Gaza, killing more than 41,600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and plunging the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
@SBS (Special Broadcasting Service)