ISRAEL PROMISES ‘CLEAR AND DECISIVE’ ATTACK ON IRAN; IRAN PLEDGES RESPONSE IN 'SECONDS'
'WE WIL CUT OFF EVERY HAND THAT ATTACKS OUR COUNTRY,’ IRAN VOWS.
Fattah 2: homegrown hypersonic Iranian missile: Photo credit: IRNA.
THE FREE LANCE NEEDS YOUR DONATIONS TO SURVIVE. DONATE HERE.
This is a developing war report. Facts will be clarified as they become clearer. Check back for additional news.
Israel promised on Monday to attack Iran in response to the missile barrage it unleashed on Israel—which itself was retaliation for Israel's assassinating Iranian generals.
“This launch of so many missiles ... into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response,” Israel Defense Forces Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned.
“We will cut off every hand that attacks our country,” is how Iran responded to Israel's threat on X, formerly Twitter.
Hours after Iran's unprecedented Saturday night strike with more than 300 missiles and drones, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet met on Sunday but delayed a response.
They met again on Monday. This time after the meeting unnamed sources inside Israel's "political and security elite" told Israel's most-popular television station, Channel 12, the war cabinet ordered the military to attack Iran "clearly and decisively."
Pres. Joe Biden reportedly told Prime Minister Netanyahu by telephone on Saturday the U.S. will not be drawn into another Middle East war. It appears the U.S. is allowing Israel to attack Iran as long as Israel's attack is not so devastating Iran feels compelled to launch an all-out reprisal.
The Channel 12 report fits with a statement attributed to a Biden official hours after the call. Referring to Israel, the official said: “We would not be a part of any response they do.“
While Channel 12's sources did not reveal what Israel would target, they did say Israel's Air Force would execute the attack.
"The plans exist and have been practiced over the years," it reported.
Despite calls to destroy installations associated with Iran's suspected nuclear program, Israel appears to lack the capacity to effectively do so without direct assistance from the U.S. —in the form of specialized “bunker-buster” bombs.
Iran restricted access to its nuclear installations on Monday.
“Our inspectors in Iran were informed by the Iranian government yesterday that all the nuclear facilities that we are inspecting every day would remain closed on security considerations,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters on Monday.
Grossi's agency is charged with ensuring Iran's civilian nuclear program does not transform into a weapons-making program.
Iran says it doesn't matter what Israel targets, any attack on its territory will be responded to immediately with military force.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council voted on Sunday to authorize a counter-strike 10 times greater than Saturday night's attack if attacked by Israel. 10 times greater means more than a 1,000 Iranian missiles.
"If the enemy makes another mistake,” Ali Bagheri, an Iranian Foreign Affairs official, pledged on X on Monday, “they will not have 12 days. Iran's response speed will be less than a few seconds."
Iran has not just one but two homegrown hypersonic missiles that can strike Israel in about 400 seconds.
Not only do these missiles have extremely short flight times, they're too fast to be stopped by Israel's vaunted anti-missile defense system.
Even Iran's older missiles evaded Israel's anti-missile defenses to strike two air force bases during Saturday night's attack—the Night of Falling Arrows.
THE FREE LANCE NEEDS YOUR DONATIONS TO SURVIVE. DONATE HERE.