Four unspecified Iranian officials outlined to Western media how Tehran could retaliate in response to an Israeli strike on Iran.[1] These comments were likely an information operation meant to coerce Israel into limiting its strike on Iran. The Iranian officials, which included two Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officers, told the New York Times that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the Iranian armed forces to develop multiple retaliatory options.[2] The officials claimed that if Israel inflicts “major harm,” such as by targeting energy and nuclear infrastructure or senior Iranian officials, the retaliatory options would include firing as many as 1,000 ballistic missiles at Israel, increasing Iranian-backed militia attacks across the Middle East, and disrupting commercial traffic in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.[3] The threat against global shipping comes as Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have threatened to start an “energy war” in the Middle East.[4] The Iranian officials also claimed that Tehran could refrain from retaliating if Israel only strikes military targets—rather than energy or nuclear infrastructure or senior Iranian officials.[5]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-25-2024
They said this because they knew (were informed) that only military targets would be attacked.
“We thank God that our defense missiles performed well, and kudos to our armed forces who produced these systems themselves,” said Ahmadreza Pourkhaghan, head of the Judicial Organization of Iran’s Armed Forces, on Saturday following the Israeli overnight attack.
https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/1850082503375073718
LOL!
Iran Update, October 26, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted three waves of strikes into Iran on October 25. The strikes were in response to the large-scale ballistic missile attack that Iran launched against Israel on October 1.
A new Iranian-backed militia claiming to operate in Saudi Arabia announced its existence on October 25.[12] The Islamic Resistance in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques claimed that it launched a drone attack targeting an unspecified ”vital site” in Israel. The naming of the group appears inspired by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which is a coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias that has conducted regular drone and missile attacks on Israel in recent months. The IDF has not commented on the claimed drone attack at the time of this writing.
more + maps https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-26-2024