Israel hopes focused targets in retaliatory strike will limit Iranian response

Jerusalem — Israeli officials say its series of strikes Saturday overnight on Iran achieved their objectives.

"Following the directive of the political echelon, we carried out precise and targeted strikes on targets in different areas in Iran,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.

“These included missile manufacturing facilities used by Iran in its attacks on the State of Israel over the past year. Simultaneously, we targeted Iran’s surface-to-air missile arrays and Iranian aerial capabilities that were intended to restrict Israel's aerial freedom of operation in Iran. Israel now has broader aerial freedom of operation in Iran," Hagari said.

Iranian state news site IRNA quoted the nation’s air defense organization as saying Israel attacked military centers in Tehran and in the western provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam. It said Iranian forces “successfully” intercepted many of the strikes, ensuring they caused only “limited damage.”

Israeli analysts said the decision to limit the attack to military targets gives Iran a way to back away from its escalating rhetoric against Israel.

"Israel didn't make it larger than it was expected,” Beni Sabit, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, said. “Last time, Iran attacked [Israel’s] military bases, air force bases, so Israel also attacked military bases, air force, air defense bases, and also some military factories for missiles and drones.

“So, we see that Israel wants to close this event to pass this message to Iran that it is closed, [this is] a closure, and we don't want to escalate it,” Sabit said. “So now it depends on Iran, if they take this message, understand this message, or no — they want to escalate it, too."

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said there had been no Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Iran’s nuclear facilities have not been impacted. IAEA inspectors are safe and continue their vital work. I call for prudence and restraint from actions that could jeopardize the safety & security of nuclear & other radioactive materials,” Rafael Mariano Grossi wrote on social media platform X.

One of Israel’s broadcast network’s reported that Israel initially planned to strike Iran’s oil and natural gas facilities but changed the targets after U.S. pressure, a claim the Israeli prime minister’s office called “totally false.”

“Israel chose the targets ahead of time, based on its national interests,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, “and not based on American directives.”

“That’s how it was, and that’s how it will be,” the statement reads.

Israeli analysts say the ball is now in Iran’s court, and they can choose to de-escalate the conflict with Israel.

“I do hope they realize that the best way to go would be to stop attacking Israel with ballistic missiles,” said Shmuel Spiro, a professor of national security at Bar Ilan University.

“If the Iranians would retaliate now, that may drive Israel to an even harsher response, and that could escalate into a regional conflagration. I don’t think any of the sides now need that and I hope that cooler minds will prevail,” Spiro said.

The Israeli government did not issue any special instructions to the population after the strikes, meaning they did not expect an imminent Iranian response.

On October 1, Iran attacked Israel with 200 missiles, which damaged property but did not cause any fatalities. Israel vowed at that time to respond, and almost a month later, it launched this series of attacks on Iran, which showed Israel’s capability for long-range attacks.