Before Iran’s attack on Israel last week, President Joe Biden had a one-word message for Tehran: “Don’t.”
It didn’t listen.
In the aftermath of the attack, Biden didn’t utter that one-word advice publicly, but it was fairly obvious what his administration wanted the Israelis to do: Axios reported that Biden had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not support any counterattack launched by the Israelis and that, to quote the president, “You got a win. Take the win.”
That’s an interesting definition of a win, and it quickly became apparent that the Israeli government wasn’t going to take his advice. The question wasn’t if but when the counterattack would occur.
We now have our answer: early Friday morning.
“The missile launches follow Iran’s attack last Saturday, where the country sent a volley of more than 300 uncrewed drones and missiles toward targets throughout the country, Israeli military officials previously said,” ABC News reported.
CNN reported that explosions had been heard at two sites in the province of Isfahan — an airport and an army base.
The sites weren’t named by ABC News, but according to a New York Post report, “several explosions were heard across the country” in the early hours of Friday morning.
Both outlets reported that missiles had been used.
The Times of Israel also said the strikes were centered around Isfahan, which is home to some of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
It said the attacks were carried out with drones, not missiles.
#Breaking #Israel launch missile attack on Iran in ISFAHAN AND NATANZ cities.
Panic sound can be heard in #Iran. Israel also attack Iraq at the same time.#IranIsraelConflict #IsraelUnderAttack #WW3 #MIssileAttack #Iraq
pic.twitter.com/8H1352yLmN— Vindhya24news_official (@vindhya24news) April 19, 2024
The Times of Israel reported that an official had said the strikes were “limited” in nature and were aimed at Iranian military sites.
While Isfahan is associated with Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli source said the counterattack avoided hitting any of the nuclear sites.
Officials in Tehran initially played down the attack, first telling Reuters that “[e]xplosions heard in Isfahan were a result of the activation of Iran’s air defense systems, an Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, adding that no missile attack was carried out against Iran.”
Meanwhile, Iranian space agency spokesman Hassan Dalirian said in a post on X that the attack was repelled by Iran’s defense forces.
“They said that 500 suicide drones and missiles were fired at us and that Israel was subjected to the world’s largest drone attack,” he wrote, according to a computer translation. “Now answer that operation with 3 of these quadcopters, all three of them were shot down.”
“They just say that they didn’t inform America before,” Dalirian added.
میگفتن 500 تا پهپاد انتحاری و موشک به سمت ما شلیک شده و اسرائیل تحت بزرگترین حمله پهپادی جهان قرار گرفته
حالا اون عملیات رو با 3 تا از این کوادکوپترها خواستن جواب بدن که هر سهتاشون سرنگون شدن 😂😂
تازه میگن به آمریکا هم خبر ندادن قبلش 🙂 pic.twitter.com/bdsE4l1gls
— Hossein Dalirian (@HosseinDalirian) April 19, 2024
Israel’s military, meanwhile, told AFP that “we don’t have a comment at this time.” However, a former Israeli Defense Forces spokesman said Iran hadn’t accurately assessed the damage caused by the strikes yet.
“It will take them time to work out what happened,” Avi Benayahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
Other analysts described “the news reports as propaganda, making comparisons to official programming supporting the communist regime in the former Soviet Union,” the Times reported.
Video shows flashes in the night sky above Isfahan in Iran, where state media said three drones were shot down.
The country has been on alert for an Israeli attack as tensions rise after the Israeli bombing of Iran’s consulate in Syria and Iran’s attack in response. pic.twitter.com/5H5pzP94QN
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 19, 2024
And Iran’s military deniers apparently can’t get on the same page, if the discrepancies in the statements by the officials who spoke to Reuters and Dalirian’s X post are to be believed as official stories.
Do you stand with Israel?
What’s clear is that the damage is indeed “limited” and that a counterattack happened, in spite of Iran telling Israel that, after its strike on Israel last week, “The matter can be deemed concluded” unless “the Israeli regime make another mistake” — in which case, “Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” France24 reported at the time.
“If the Zionist regime [Israel] or its supporters demonstrate reckless behavior, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Sunday.
Given that anything short of deeming the matter “concluded” would likely be considered “reckless” by the government in Tehran, one wonders whether said escalation will happen. (The Times quoted a senior Iranian official as saying there was no plan for immediate retaliation.)
If, however, things do escalate, all of President Joe Biden’s “don’ts” will have been proved to be as worthless as they sounded when they were uttered, and we’re in more danger than ever before — all thanks to America’s weakness in regard to our most important Middle Eastern ally.
