Iron Dome is more fragile than glass: Iran after its missiles hit Israel

Tel Aviv/Washington/Tehran/Doha: Starting around 12:30 Eastern time (10 pm on October 1, 2024), Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles against several targets in Israel. Iran’s President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian, before leaving for Qatar where the Emir of Qatar officially welcomed him today, said in the meeting of the government board in Tehran: “The Iron Dome is more fragile than glass. If the Zionists make a mistake again, the next response will be much more crushing.”

Pezeshkian’s agenda in Qatar was to try to create a consensus against the crimes of the Zionists. “If the Zionist regime does not stop its crimes, it will face a severe reaction,” he asserted and said he was hopeful “we will remove our enemies from the region”.

After the missile attacks, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirmed them and stated that Iran exercised self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter, targeting solely military and security sites in charge of genocide in Gaza and Lebanon. “We did so after exercising tremendous restraint for almost two months, to give space for a ceasefire in Gaza. Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Aragchi said.

Israel claimed there were no deaths but an Israeli soldier got wounded in the missile attack in Tel Aviv-Yafo. A missile also landed close to the headquarters of Israeli spy agency Mossad, creating a massive crater there. 

“Iran made a big mistake – and it will pay for it,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said immediately after the missile attack.

“We will respond, we know how to locate important targets, we know how to strike with precision and power,” Herzi Halevi, Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, stated today after visiting the Tel Nof Airbase, which was a target of the Iranian missiles. “The base is fully operational, it has not ceased to operate for a moment, and continues to carry out strikes wherever required. We have the capabilities to reach and strike any point in the Middle East. And those of our enemies who have not yet understood this will soon understand,” Halevi said.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz took to social media platform X to declare the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata in Israel and ban him from entering the country. “Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil. This is a Secretary-General who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on October 7, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization. A Secretary-General who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran—the mothership of global terror—will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN. Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres,” Katz stated.

Earlier, in an address to the Israeli citizens, Netanyahu reminded the regime in Tehran of Israel’s “determination” to defend itself and to “exact a price” from its enemies., “[Hamas Chief Yahya] Sinwar and Deif [Hamas commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri known as Mohammed Deif] did not understand this; neither did Nasrallah or Mohsen. Apparently, there are those in Tehran who do not understand this either. They will. We will keep to the rule we have determined: Whoever attacks us – we attack them,” Netanyahu said .

The United States once again came to Israel’s defence against the Iranian missile attacks, just as it participated in Israel’s defence when Iran launched its attack on April 13, 2024.

Today, US President Joe Biden joined a call with the G7 to discuss Iran’s “unacceptable attack” against Israel and to coordinate a response to this attack, including new sanctions. President Biden and the G7 unequivocally condemned Iran’s attack against Israel. President Biden expressed the United States’ full solidarity and support for Israel and its people and reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the US Democratic presidential candidate, said, “I am clear-eyed: Iran is a destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East, and today’s attack on Israel only further demonstrates that fact”.  She also termed Iran as a threat to American personnel in the region, and asserted that “I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias.  My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering”.

According to the Americans, their initial assessment is that Israel, with direct assistance from the United States and its partners, was able to successfully defeat this attack.

The United States termed the attack by Iran on Israel as “brazen” and “unacceptable”, and called upon “every nation in the world” to condemn it. The US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken joined President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other members of the President’s national security team in monitoring the attack as it was unfolding, as well as the US response. Biden made it clear that the US support for Israel’s security is “ironclad”. He declared that “We will continue to stand with the people of Israel at this critical moment”. The US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan said that this attack by Iran was sort of definitively escalatory in nature.

Washington said at this time it was not aware of any damage to U.S. facilities. “We’re not aware of any – of any civilian causalities inside Israel there let alone an American citizen casualty. There is one report of a Palestinian who died in the West Bank, but no, no damage to any U.S. facility either,”,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said today (IST).

The US claimed it had been warning for some time about the threat posed by Iran arming and funding terrorist groups across the Middle East, and the attack just demonstrated the danger of those actions. “What you saw was Iran launching a state-on-state attack to protect and defend the terrorist groups that it has built, nurtured and that it controls. So there is a difference between the actions that we have seen Israel take to defend its civilians,” Miller said. According to him, while Israel “certainly” did things to expand the conflict against Hizbollah, Israel was only bringing terrorists who had launched attacks on Israeli civilians, to justice.

The US said while it was too early to get into what the response might be. It needed time to collect all of the information and talk with Israel and other partners in the region about the way forward.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah reportedly killed 8 Israeli Soldiers in an offensive in south Lebanon. The US said in terms of the status on the ground, the airport in Beirut was still open. “Commercial flights are operating, although they are available at times at reduced capacity. We are working right now with airlines to provide additional flights with more seats for American citizens. It’s something that we hope to turn on in the next few days, and we will be in touch with American citizens if and when we’re able to expand that capability,” Miller said. He informed that as of today, around 6,000 American citizens were present in Lebanon.