“If Iran does respond in any way, we will continue to defend Israel,” Matthew Miller said
WASHINGTON, October 29. /TASS/. The US State Department believes that Israel’s strike on Iran was proportionate to the attack carried out by Tehran on October 1, Spokesman Matthew Miller said at a regular briefing.
“As you know, because we talked about it quite publicly, we were communicating with them (the Israelis – TASS) for nearly four weeks about the nature of their response and making sure that their response should be one that would be proportionate and would not in any way lead to further escalation. We believe that was the nature of the response and that Iran should not respond in any way,” he said.
“If Iran does respond in any way, we will continue to defend Israel,” Miller pointed out. He added that Israel’s response did not include attacks on nuclear or economic targets. “The response from Israel was limited to military sites, which was entirely appropriate given the nature of the attack by Iran,” the diplomat emphasized.
On October 26, the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck military sites inside Iran in response to “numerous continuous attacks.” The country’s air defense forces said in a statement that damage was limited and air defense systems successfully repelled the main attack.
Iran’s General Staff said that the attack was launched from Iraqi airspace over territory controlled by US forces. The Israeli strikes killed at least four Iranian soldiers and one civilian.
On October 1, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite unit of Iran’s armed forces) launched a massive ballistic and hypersonic missile attack against Israel in retaliation for the deaths of top leaders of the Hamas, Hezbollah and IRGC groups. Tehran said that 90% of the missiles successfully hit their designated targets. Israel, in turn, said that Iran had fired some 180 missiles into the country, most of which were intercepted.
The Israeli Chief of the General Staff vowed to “choose the right time” to surprise Iran with an attack.
