In response to the Iranian missile attack, Israel has bombed military production facilities. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have announced retaliation.
Iran has again threatened Israel with retaliation after Israeli missile attacks at the weekend. The “harsh consequences will be unimaginable,” said Hossein Salami, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, to the Iranian news agency Tasnim. The Revolutionary Guards are a paramilitary organization whose political influence far exceeds that of the regular armed forces.
Israel “did not achieve its disastrous goals” in the air strikes on Saturday, said Salami. They were a sign of “misjudgment and helplessness.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spiritual leader and de facto ruler of Iran, also said on Sunday that the attacks should “neither be overestimated nor trivialized.”
Israel attacked fewer targets than feared
Israel attacked several military targets in Iran on Saturday night, including air defense systems and missile factories. Several Iranian soldiers were killed. The Israeli attack was a response to an Iranian attack with hundreds of ballistic missiles on Israel in early October. According to Israel and its allies, most of the Iranian missiles were repelled. Iran described its attack as a response to the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time leader of the pro-Iranian terrorist militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Before Salami, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi had already pointed out that his country had the right to respond to the attack. However, Iranian media had played down the effects of the Israeli counterattack. Observers see this as an attempt, among other things, to prevent the conflict from escalating further.
Israel’s attack could also have been bigger: In the weeks before, there had been speculation about a possible attack on Iranian oil processing and nuclear facilities.
Oil markets react with relief to Israeli counterattack
Nevertheless, the Israeli counterattack has had a noticeable impact on the oil markets. Oil prices fell by around 4.5 percent this Monday morning to 72.70 or 68.49 dollars per barrel (169 liters), depending on the type. This was the lowest since the end of September.
Analysts see this as a sign of relief that the Israeli attack was less severe than feared – for example because it was not aimed at the Iranian oil fields. However, due to sanctions, Iranian oil is not traded on Western markets and is reportedly mostly going to China.
