Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, warned on Wednesday that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for a potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend.
The weekend attack, dubbed “Honest Promise” by Tehran, “brought down the glory of the Zionist regime,” Raisi said at an annual army parade near Tehran on Wednesday, in a speech addressed to the regular army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“This operation showed that our armed forces are ready,” said the president, as his chief naval officer announced he was beefing up security for Iranian commercial ships in the Red Sea as tensions in the vital maritime route persist.
In the first direct volley of the two countries’ decades-long shadow war, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend in response to an alleged Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two IRGC generals.
Israel, with help from the United States, the United Kingdom, neighboring Jordan and other nations, successfully intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones, with one person, a 7-year-old Muslim girl, wounded in the attack. Israel has vowed to respond, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying Tuesday that Iran would not get off “scot-free.”



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