A senior Iranian military official on Thursday warned Israel of the possibility of an attack on its nuclear sites, saying Iran was prepared to launch
"powerful missiles"
at Israeli nuclear facilities in retaliation.
“If the Zionist regime wants to take action against our nuclear centers and facilities, it will certainly face our reaction. For the counterattack, the regime's nuclear facilities will be targeted with advanced weapons
,” warned General Ahmad Haghtalab, head of the nuclear security division within the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), cited by the official agency Irna.
Israel announced that it reserved
“the right to protect itself”
against Iran after the Iranian attack, carried out with more than 350 drones and missiles launched towards Israel, almost all of which were intercepted in flight. But he gave no information on the means, date and targets of a possible operation.
Nuclear installations
General Haghtalab specified that
“the nuclear centers of the Zionist enemy”
were
“identified”
and that Tehran had
“the necessary information on all targets”
.
“Hands are on the trigger to fire powerful missiles for the total destruction of determined targets
,” he warned, according to IRNA.
Israel accuses Iran - which denies it - of wanting to acquire an atomic bomb and says it is seeking by all means to prevent it. For its part, Israel is considered a nuclear power but it has never confirmed or denied its capacity to use the atom for military purposes.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Monday that Iran had closed its nuclear facilities
"for security reasons"
on the day of its attack on Israel. Another senior Iranian officer said Thursday that his country had used only
“old weapons and minimal power”
for its attack last weekend.
“We have overcome the maximum capacity of the Hebrew and Western camp with minimal power at this point
,” said General Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Forces, which led the operation.
“At this stage, we have not used
the
Khorramshahr, Sajil, Haj Qasem, Kheibar and Hypersonic II
missiles ,” he said. Iran has so far not specified the number of drones and ballistic missiles fired at Israel, nor their type.