Khamenei: Israeli attacks should neither be exaggerated nor minimized

2024-10-27 19:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned against exaggerating or minimizing the impact of the retaliatory strikes Israel carried out on Iran on October 26.

Speaking on October 27 to the families of Iranian military officials who were killed in the attacks, Khamenei described the attacks as a "miscalculation" by Israel.

However, while he called on government officials to "understand the capabilities" that Iran has, he stopped short of calling for Iran to respond, which would continue the attacks between the two rivals.

"Of course, they are exaggerating," he said, referring to Israel, which it said had successfully carried out "targeted and precise attacks" on Iranian military targets.

"It's wrong to exaggerate, but it's also wrong to minimize," Khamenei said, adding that Iran cannot simply say "[the attacks] were nothing, they weren't important."

Tehran has asked Switzerland, which holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, to call an emergency session to condemn Israel after the airstrikes, which were in response to Iran's missile attacks on Israel earlier this month.

While Iranian officials have insisted that air defense intercepted most of the shells fired by Israel, they have also said that four Iranian soldiers were killed during the strikes.

The attacks did not hit nuclear or oil production facilities, as expected.

US President Joe Biden on October 26 defended Israel's right to self-defense, but also expressed concern that mutual attacks between the two enemy states could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle East.

For weeks, Iranian officials and international observers have been waiting for Israel to launch strikes, since Iran attacked Israel on October 1 with about 180 ballistic missiles.

Tehran had said the attack was retaliatory, due to attacks Iran has carried out against Iran-backed groups: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hamas – a Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union – fueled the Gaza war with Israel after it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Since the war in Gaza began, Hezbollah - the militant group and political party that controls most of southern Lebanon - has exchanged fire on the border with Israel. In October of this year, tensions escalated between the parties and Israel launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing, but not its political party. The Hezbollah party has seats in the Lebanese Parliament./ Rel