The Iranian leadership, preparing for the expected retaliatory strike from Israel, ordered the armed forces to be ready for war, but at the same time try to avoid it, the New York Times reported, citing four unnamed Iranian officials who spoke with the publication by phone.
According to the interlocutors of the publication, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the military to develop several plans to respond to the Israeli attack. The scale of the Iranian response will largely depend on the severity and scale of these attacks.
As the officials noted, if Israeli strikes lead to large-scale destruction and large casualties, Iran will take retaliatory measures. But if Israel limits its strikes to several military bases and warehouses where missiles and drones are stored, Iran may well refuse to escalate further.
It follows from Ayatollah Khamenei's orders that retaliatory measures will necessarily follow if Israel strikes oil and energy infrastructure or nuclear facilities, as well as if it kills high-ranking officials.
Officials who spoke with the newspaper, including two employees of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that the response measures under consideration include a new launch of ballistic missiles in the amount of up to 1,000 units, an escalation of attacks by pro-Iranian militant groups in the region and disruption of the flow of global energy supplies and shipping through the Persian Gulf and The Strait of Hormuz.
On October 1, Iran subjected Israel to massive rocket fire for the second time in history, calling it an act of self-defense. The Israeli military says that about 180 ballistic missiles were fired, most of which were intercepted. Videos on social networks captured the consequences of falling shells in different parts of Israel. The shelling, according to the Israeli authorities, cost no casualties among the country's citizens. A number of media outlets reported the death of one person, presumably a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank of the Jordan River.
The Iranians claim that the missiles hit Israeli military facilities, the Israelis call the damage "minimal." They promise to strike back, and the United States — to come to the aid of its main Middle Eastern ally.