Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has stated that Iran will be caught off guard by the country’s response to the recent missile attack.
Gallant described Israel’s response as “deadly, pinpoint accurate, and surprising.”
The missile barrage launched by Iran earlier this month was seen as retaliation for the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, as well as an Iranian general. Gallant characterized Iran’s attack as aggressive but inaccurate.
”The Iranian attack was aggressive but inaccurate,” Gallant said on Wednesday. “In contrast, our attack will be deadly, pinpoint accurate, and most importantly, surprising – they will not know what happened or how it happened. They will just see the results.”
Gallant made these remarks while addressing Intelligence Unit 9900 of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), responsible for visual intelligence gathering and analysis. He attributed Israel’s “air supremacy” and ability to see “very precisely and in every place what we want to” to the unit’s work, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Iran launched a series of missiles and drones at Israel in April in response to the deadly airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. Both Israel and the US claimed to have completely intercepted the attack, resulting in no casualties or damage. However, the October 1 barrage was more extensive, with videos of multiple missile impacts posted on social media clearly showing the failure of Israeli air defenses.
The IDF has pledged a “serious and significant” response, while Tehran has warned both Israel and the US that it will no longer exercise “unilateral self-restraint” and will instead retaliate more forcefully.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly trying to coordinate the strike with the US. Gallant’s scheduled trip to Washington on Tuesday was canceled after Netanyahu reportedly said he had not been able to reach US President Joe Biden.
Biden has publicly cautioned West Jerusalem against targeting Iran’s nuclear program or oil facilities. According to both US and Israeli media, the IDF is now expected to target military and intelligence sites instead.
Meanwhile, the IRGC-affiliated news agency Tasnim reported that the Iranian military has developed at least ten contingency plans to respond to any Israeli attack. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned on Tuesday that Tehran is “not afraid of war.”