“Thanks to a coordinated international effort in which the UK participated, almost all of these missiles were intercepted, saving lives not only in Israel but also in neighboring countries such as Jordan,” Sunak said in a statement. video posted on on Sunday.
On Friday, just the day before the Iran blitz, Gallant and senior officers met with the head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) at an air base in Israel to review Israel’s defense plans. “We discussed close cooperation between the United States and Israel, between our defense establishments and our militaries,” Gallant said after the meeting.
Seeking to counter the notion that the Iranian attack was an embarrassing failure, Tehran officials insisted that they had made a calibrated response to the Damascus attack and that their message had been successfully delivered, highlighting the damage caused to the Nevatim base.
Asserting that the barrage of drones and missiles had “achieved its objectives,” Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said the operation was over “in our opinion.”
Aware of the danger of an Israeli response, he nevertheless insisted: “We are totally ready to defend our land.”
This raises the more important question of how Israel will respond, which could raise the prospect of a massive conflagration in the region. According to Axios, Biden signaled to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not join any retaliation by Israel following Iran’s first-ever direct attack against it.
Politico
