After Israel's attack

Iran: “Consequences will be unimaginable”

The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (pictured) threatens Israel: "The harsh consequences will be unimaginable."

(Bild: AFP)

Following the Israeli missile attacks on various military targets in Iran at the weekend, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, threatened Israel with "harsh consequences" on Monday.

"The harsh consequences will be unimaginable," Salami was quoted as saying by the Iranian news agency Tasnim News Agency, which is said to be backed by the radical Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Israel had "failed to achieve its ominous goals" in the airstrikes on Saturday, he added.

Israel had fired on military targets in Iran on Saturday night in response to an Iranian missile attack at the beginning of October. According to Israel, the attacks were directed against missile factories and air defense facilities. According to Iranian reports, four Iranian soldiers were killed in the attacks. The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Monday at Tehran's request.

Iran's media played down the impact
According to Tasnim, Salami said that the Israeli attack was a sign of "miscalculation and helplessness". Iranian media had played down the impact of the Israeli attacks. Analysts see this as an attempt to prevent the conflict from escalating further. Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared on Sunday that the attacks from Israel should "neither be overestimated nor trivialized".

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi referred to his country's "right" to "respond". A few hours before the Israeli attacks, Tehran had received "indications (...) of the possibility of an attack during the night", he added.

Iraq protests over airspace violation
Israel's air force used Iraqi airspace during the attack on Iran, triggering protests from the government in Baghdad. Iraq had therefore sent a letter of protest to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN Security Council in the run-up to the UN Security Council meeting, an Iraqi government spokesperson announced. Israel had obviously violated Iraq's airspace and sovereignty.

According to a report by the state agency INA, Iraq "will not allow Iraqi airspace or ground to be used for attacks on other countries". This applies in particular to attacks on "neighboring countries with which Iraq maintains a relationship of mutual respect and common interests," Salami said.

There is a border of around 1500 kilometers between Iraq and Iran. Iran has great influence in the neighboring country. More than a dozen political parties in Iraq maintain relations with Iran, and many of the militias in Iraq are also loyal to Tehran.

The protest is also directed against the USA, which controls Iraqi airspace as part of military cooperation. According to Baghdad, there will also be an exchange with the US side regarding this violation.