![\"'Slightest'](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2021-08\/o7opm26k_ebrahim-raisi-afp-650_625x300_06_August_21.jpg\"\/ "\\"'Slightest'")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTehran: <\/b><\/p>\n
President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel it will face a “painful response” if it takes the “slightest action” in response to Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile barrage at the weekend.<\/p>\n
Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, which began on Saturday, was in response to an April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus which has been widely blamed on Israel.<\/p>\n
The strike levelled the five-storey consular annexe of the Iranian embassy and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.<\/p>\n
“We firmly declare that the slightest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response,” Raisi said in a call late Monday with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.<\/p>\n
Raisi reiterated that Iran was acting in “self-defence”, saying the operation targeted Israeli bases used to carry out the consulate strike, a statement from his office said.<\/p>\n
He criticised the support of some Western government for Israel.<\/p>\n
Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi vowed Monday to respond to the unprecedented attack, even after appeals for restraint poured in from world leaders fearing wider regional conflict.<\/p>\n
“This launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response,” Halevi told troops at the Nevatim airbase, which was hit in Iran’s Saturday night barrage.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army has said the vast majority of the weapons were shot down — with the help of the United States and other allies — and the attack caused only minimal damage.<\/p>\n
Iran said it had informed the United States and given a 72-hour warning to neighbouring countries ahead of what it called its “limited” attack on Israel.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n