Funerals held for servicemen martyred in Israeli aggression
Pezeshkian vows ‘appropriate response’ to strikes IRGC chief: ‘Bitter, unimaginable consequences’ await Israel
Iran bid farewell to four Iran Army’s servicemen who were killed in a recent Israel’s strike as the country’s officials vowed “appropriate response” to the regime’s aggression in the early hours of Saturday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that, “We do not seek war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country,” and will “give an appropriate response” to the Israel’s attack.
Before dawn on Saturday, Israeli warplanes used the space available to the US military in Iraq to fire long-range air-to-air missiles at Iran’s Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam provinces in flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter.
The Israeli aggression was a response to Iran’s missile attack on the regime’s military sites on October 1, itself a retaliation for the assassination of the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah resistance groups and an Iranian commander.
Four members of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force and one civilian were killed in the attack.
Funeral processions
On Monday, thousands of Iranians attended mass funeral processions for the victims of Israel’s offensive, which were held in the provinces of Kermanshah, Khuzestan, and Lorestan.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Iran is firmly determined to respond to the Israeli act of aggression and will not abandon its right in this regard.
Israel’s attack on Iran was met with widespread condemnations from many countries, especially the regional ones.
Some countries like the United States and the UK also urged Iran not to respond the Israel’s attack.
However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone conversation with his British counterpart David Lammy said that Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent and legal right to defend its territorial integrity and national sovereignty against potential acts of aggression.
He referred to Iranian authorities’ promise of retaliation, saying Iran’s potential response would fit within the accepted principles of the international law and the United Nations Charter.
‘Unimaginable consequences’
Meanwhile, the chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami in his first reaction to the attack warned that the attack will have “bitter, unimaginable consequences” for the Israeli regime.
“The illegitimate and illegal action of the child-killing Zionist regime, which failed to achieve its ominous goals because of the readiness of the country’s air defense, shows miscalculation and frustration of this regime on the battlefield” against resistance fighters in Gaza and Lebanon, Salami added.
Damage repaired
Iran says its air defense systems successfully intercepted and countered the attack which only caused “limited damage” to its radar sites.
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Monday that the damage inflicted on the sites have been immediately repaired and replaced. Iran has yet to give exact details of the damage.
Remarks by the country’s officials came after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday said Israel needs to understand the power and determination of Iranian nation.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also said that the Islamic Republic’s response to the aggression will be “definite and calculated.”