Khamenei stops short of calling for retaliation against Israeli attack

In his first response to the Israeli attack on Iran’s military installations, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei refrained from an outright call for retaliation and delegated the decision to “authorities”.

Khamenei emphasized that Iran must make Israel understand “the power, determination, and innovation of the Iranian nation and its youth” while declaring that the decision on “how best to convey Iran's might and resolve to the Zionist regime” must be taken by the authorities in a manner that the best interests of the nation and the country are secured.

This may suggest that he has delegated the decision to the Supreme National Security Council, where many members are his appointees. It could also reflect Khamenei’s tendency to appear distanced from certain controversial policies that might carry political risks for him.

President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said in an X post that the Iranian nation would “stand fearlessly in defense of its soil and respond to any act of folly with prudence and intelligence” after the confirmation that several military installations in Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam provinces had come under Israeli attack in three separate waves overnight.

The Joint Staff of the Armed Forces in a statement Saturday claimed the military had intercepted a large number of Israeli missiles and succeeded in preventing Israeli aircraft from entering Iran's airspace but did not make any threat of immediate retaliation.

Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, however, on Sunday said at a session of the Parliament that the Islamic Republic’s response to Israel's attack would be “definite and calculated,” while demanding that the United States compel Israel to accept a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and prevent the conflict from spreading in West Asia.

Iran has been demanding a ceasefire, as its proxies, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas face continued military pressure by Israel, losing leaders and cadres to constant attacks.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday also accused the United States of complicity in Israel’s Saturday attack by providing an air corridor to Israel in Iraq. US officials say Washington had no direct involvement in it.

Authorities have reported that four personnel from the regular army (Artesh) were killed and several others wounded in the attacks but have downplayed the extent of infrastructural damage caused by the Israeli strikes. Independent reports in Western media, however, indicate extensive Israeli targeting of air defense systems and missile production facilities.

Iran's Supreme Leader on Sunday also warned that the Israeli strikes must neither be exaggerated nor underestimated but insisted that Israel must be stopped from making “wrong calculations”.

The remarks were made in a speech to the families of “martyrs of security” at the meeting hall of his residence compound in central Tehran.

In his speeches after Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus in April and the targeted killing of the Hamas Leader Esmail Haniyeh in Tehran in July Khamenei vowed tough punishment of Israel.

His tone Sunday, however, was much more cautious and evasive regarding responding to Israel’s “Days of Reckoning” operation. Israeli warplanes reportedly penetrated Iranian airspace and operated freely, a fact that has probably not escaped Khamenei's attention.

Ultra-hardliners including lawmaker Hamid Rasaei have been demanding a quick and strong response to Israel and have already dubbed their proposed attack as “Operation True Promise 3”. The state broadcaster IRIB has also aired extreme demands for retaliation in its programs and interviews since the attack.

Iran's reform front in a statement Saturday condemned the Israeli attack. Still, it urged authorities to take an initiative to “prevent all-encompassing war from a position of dignity, wisdom, and expediency” and to support “ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and formation of an independent Palestinian state”.