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By Tom O'Connor
Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
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Iranian officials have told Newsweek that the Islamic Republic did not inform the United States before launching a barrage of missiles against Israel and instead issued a direct warning to Washington after the attack.
"No notice was given to the United States prior to our response," the Iranian Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek, "however, a serious warning was issued afterwards."
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that Iran launched "dozens of ballistic missiles targeting important military and security targets" in Israel. The operation was said to have been conducted in "self-defense" over the unclaimed assassination of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, the killings of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC General Abbas Nilforushan in Israeli airstrikes last Friday in Beirut, as well as "the intensification of the regime's evils with the support of the United States."
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Following the Iranian strikes on Tuesday, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek, "Iran's legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime—which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran—has been duly carried out."
"Should the Zionist regime dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence, a subsequent and crushing response will ensue," the Mission added. "Regional states and the Zionists' supporters are advised to part ways with the regime."
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari reported in the wake of the attack that 180 ballistic missiles had been launched against Israel from Iran, calling it "a severe and dangerous escalation." He warned the attack "will have consequences," stating that, "We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide."
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had also warned of "severe consequences" should Iran attack Israel after a senior White House official warned that Iran was "imminently" preparing a ballistic missile launch earlier Tuesday.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for additional comment.
The IDF has yet to report any casualties from the strikes, however, Palestinian officials announced the death of a Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Jericho due to shrapnel injuries sustained during the strike. At least six people were also killed and 17 injured in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv shortly before the city went into alert in anticipation of strikes from Iran, according to Israeli police.
In a statement shared with Newsweek, an Israeli security official said that, in cooperation with U.S. Air Forces Central, the Israeli Air Force "operated in an effective and precise manner, intercepting most of the missiles - several hits were identified, and the damage is being assessed."
U.S. President Joe Biden also later told reporters that officials are "still assessing the impact" of the Iranian strikes but said that "the attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective." He said his administration was currently in contact with Israeli counterparts regarding the potential response.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security cabinet meeting in a bunker in Jerusalem in response to the strikes, which he said had "failed." The Israeli premier warned that Tehran had "made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it."
"We will keep to the rule we have determined: Whoever attacks us—we attack them," Netanyahu said. "This is true wherever we fight the axis of evil. It is true in Judea and Samaria. It is true in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria—and it is also true in Iran."
"We are fighting the axis of evil everywhere," he added, "including in southern Lebanon and Gaza, where our heroic soldiers are active."
Iranian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani further threatened a "swift, decisive and stronger response" should Israel strike back in a letter sent to U.N. leadership and shared with Newsweek.
The attack marked the second time that Iran has conducted a direct attack on Israel following a previous round of strikes conducted in April. Those came in response to the killing of senior IRGC officials at an Iranian consular building in the Syrian capital of Damascus and also involved the U.S. supporting Israel's defense, along with the involvement of other countries, including France and Jordan.
Shortly after the strike in April, Israel reportedly conducted a strike against an air defense system near a nuclear site in Iran, though both sides downplayed the incident.
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Israel has been at war with Hamas since the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, followed by rocket and drone strikes carried out by Hezbollah from Lebanon. As the IDF advanced in Gaza over the past year, Israel-Hezbollah violence intensified to levels not witnessed since their last war fought in July 2006, displacing tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Days after announcing the killing of Nasrallah, the IDF said Monday it had begun "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon."
Hezbollah has continued to claim attacks against Israel, announcing numerous operations Tuesday "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people."
The group is a leading member of the Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance that also includes the Yemeni Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, and a coalition of Iraqi militias operating under the collective banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. Both factions have also stepped up strikes against Israel, with the latter claiming cruise missile strikes against three targets in Israel on Tuesday.
The strikes were conducted "in continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, in support of our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly," according to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
While the Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied reports of targeting U.S. military positions near the Ain Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee issued a direct warning to U.S. forces in the region in line with the recent escalations.
"If the Americans intervene in any hostile action against the Islamic Republic, or if the Zionist enemy uses Iraqi airspace to carry out any bombing operations on its territory, all American bases and interests in Iraq and the region will be our target," the committee said, "(and there is no escape)."
Meanwhile, in two similar posts published to his official account on X, formerly Twitter, in Hebrew and Persian, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Tuesday that, "with God's help, the strikes of the resistance front on the worn-out and decaying body of the Zionist regime will become more powerful and painful."
In an earlier Arabic-language message accompanied by an illustration of missiles being fired from an underground complex, Khamenei shared a Quranic excerpt reading, "Help from God and an imminent victory."
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