Iran plays down Israel's strikes, says they caused 'limited damage'
Iran on Saturday played down Israel's overnight air attack against Iranian military targets, saying it caused only limited damage, as U.S. President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.
Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.
It was retaliation for Iran's Oct. 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles, and Israel warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back after the latest strike.
Iran's military said the Israeli warplanes used "very light warheads" to target border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.
"Enemy planes were prevented from entering the country's airspace ... and the attack caused limited damage," Iran's military joint staff said in a statement.
David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector, said low resolution commercial satellite imagery appeared to show that one Israeli strike hit the sprawling Parchin military complex near Tehran, damaging three buildings, including two where solid fuel was mixed for ballistic missile engines.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have grown rapidly since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, raising fears of a wider regional conflict that could drag in global powers and imperil world energy supplies.
Worsening conflict in Lebanon, where Israel is waging an intense campaign against Iran's main regional ally Hezbollah to stop it firing rockets into northern Israel, has raised the temperature still further.
The United States, which had pressed Israel to avoid targeting sensitive Iranian energy and nuclear sites, joined other countries in calling for a halt to the cycle of confrontation between Israel and Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had chosen the targets in Iran based on its national interests, not according to what was dictated by the United States.
Biden said the strikes appeared to have only hit military targets and added that he hoped they were "the end".
Two regional officials briefed by Iran told Reuters that several high-level meetings were held in Tehran to determine the scope of Iran's response. One official said the damage was "very minimal" but added that several Revolutionary Guards bases in and around Tehran were also hit.
Iranian news sites aired footage of passengers at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, seemingly meant to show there was little impact.
Israel's military, signalling it did not expect an immediate Iranian response, said there was no change to public safety restrictions across the country.
'MESSAGE TO IRAN'
Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies, said the Israeli strike appeared designed to give Tehran an opportunity to avoid further escalation.
"We see that Israel wants to close this event, to pass this message to Iran that it is closed and we don't want to escalate it," he said.
Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defences continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.
Israel's military said its jets had struck missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, and safely returned home.
"If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond," the military said.
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