Iran is bracing itself for likely Israeli attacks on its nuclear sites as the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged the west to leave the Middle East.
Khamenei met students and scientists on Wednesday in his first public appearance since ordering a high-risk missile attack on Israel in response to Israel’s attacks on the leadership of Hezbollah, the armed group Tehran has funded in Lebanon.
Iran, he said, was still in mourning over the assassination last Friday of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, but added: “Being in mourning does not mean being depressed and sitting in a corner.”
Iran’s attack has appeared to rally the country’s previously divided political elite as the leadership justified the attack on Israel by insisting it was effective, lawful and unavoidable to restore deterrence and Iran’s sovereignty.
Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, made a round of diplomatic calls, including to European foreign ministers, insisting that Iran was not seeking escalation. Unlike Israeli attacks in Lebanon, Iran’s targets had been strictly military and not civilian, he claimed.
Asked on Wednesday if Iran had given any direct warnings to the US about the attacks, he said: “No, I do not confirm such a thing. But we had an exchange of messages through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, giving the necessary warnings to the US.” He said that message was sent after Iran had launched the missiles into Israel.
Switzerland has long acted as a diplomatic intermediary for the US in Tehran.
Part of the purpose of Araghchi’s calls was to convey the limits of the Iranian operation, and to urge the US and Europe to insist in turn that Israel show restraint in its response.
He added: “I anticipate that we may gradually witness a return to some form of stability in the region in the coming days.”
Iran’s defence minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, also urged Europe to contain Israel. “Otherwise they will face Iran’s response and the region will enter into a great war,” he said.
At a meeting of the UN security council in New York later on Wednesday Iran is expected to defend its actions in line with the UN Charter.
Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, the head of Iran’s general staff of the armed forces, said the missiles targeted Israeli airbases, including the Nevatim base, which houses F35 planes, as well as the Mossad headquarters.
Images of the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Council (IRGC) watching the attack on TV monitors showed them shouting “beautiful” as the missiles struck the ground and exploded.
Speaking of Israel’s likely response, Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf, speaker of the parliament, said: “We have prepared ourselves for the possible madness of Israel and have designed an unexpected plan, and our next response to possible aggressions will be on a very different level.”
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But observers said there was also a sense of foreboding. Iran knows its largely Russian-supplied aerial defences are rudimentary, and that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made it an explicit war objective to change the balance of power in Middle East, which many take as a code for weakening Iran’s nuclear programme.
The regime, wary of dissent, will be monitoring the reaction of citizens. The oil ministry announced there were no plans to raise petrol prices, one of the most sensitive issues inside a country racked by inflation and sanctions.
The IRGC urged citizens to report any pro-Israel statements on social media. All internal and external commercial air flights across Iranian airspace were cancelled.
One of the key nuclear sites in Iran is Fordow, near the city of Qom, a uranium enrichment facility deep underground. An Israeli attack on this would hasten the return of debate inside Iran over whether the country needs to acquire a nuclear weapon, as opposed simply to the enriched uranium required for such a bomb.
Javad Zarif, the government’s strategic minister and likely to be one of those in the leadership most reluctant to back the military response, was, however, unequivocal in backing the attacks.
“Western hypocrisy is not just outrageous, but extremely dangerous. Western states have aided and abetted the Israeli genocide in Gaza and acquiesced in Israeli aggressions against Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and other countries in the region.
“Iran has an inherent right of self-defence against repeated Israeli armed attacks against Iranian territory and its citizens. Israel and its allies alone are responsible for all consequences of Israel’s persistent provocations and escalations,” he said.