The White House on Tuesday described Iran’s ballistic missile assault on Israel as “defeated and ineffective,” crediting US involvement in helping to repel some of the attacks.
“Based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, told reporters.
Late Tuesday, Iranian forces launched a barrage of missiles targeting “three military bases” near Israel’s commercial hub, Tel Aviv, according to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
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The United States had earlier warned of an imminent Iranian ballistic missile strike on Israel and cautioned Tehran of “severe” consequences for such actions.
Iranian media shared footage of the missile launches, accompanied by upbeat music as the news broadcaster celebrated the event, referring to the actions of the “brave Iranian people.”
Later, images surfaced showing residents of Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, celebrating the attack in the streets, waving Hezbollah flags and holding portraits of the group’s late leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Similar displays of jubilation were reported in Tehran and other provincial cities.
This assault marked Iran’s second missile attack on Israel, the first occurring in April, which was a response to an Israeli airstrike that targeted Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
Nearly all the missiles and drones in that earlier assault were intercepted by Israeli defenses.
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Friday’s Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed Nasrallah and General Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force.
Iran vowed that Nilforoushan’s death would not go unanswered. The latest attack appears to be Tehran’s retaliation.
At the recent UN General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel of inciting conflict while asserting that Iran had exercised restraint after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, despite pressure from US-backed peace efforts in Gaza.
However, Pezeshkian on Sunday called the promise of a ceasefire in exchange for Iran’s non-reaction “false,” stating that appeasing Israel would only encourage further crimes.
Iran, which has refused to recognize Israel since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, has long made supporting the Palestinian cause a core element of its foreign policy.
While Tehran praised Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which escalated the Gaza conflict, it denied direct involvement.
Since the outbreak of the war, tensions across the region have spiked, with Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen joining the fray.
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