Iran’s military demonstrates its effectiveness with missile attacks

Iran had announced retaliation for the terrorist attack in Kerman – rocket attacks on targets in Syria and Iraq followed during the night. The government primarily wanted to show strength, says an expert in Tehran.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards had been announcing for days that they would retaliate for the terrorist attack in Kerman. Almost two weeks ago, a hundred people died in the city when two suicide attacks were carried out at a memorial event. So now the Iranian military struck back.

Videos can be seen on social networks of the rockets rising into the night sky somewhere in Iran. They were therefore aimed at targets in the neighboring country of northern Iraq and in the more distant northern Syria. Tehran said that a headquarters of the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) had been hit in northern Syria. IS claimed responsibility for the double attack in Kerman.

Iraq mourns four civilian deaths

The Iranian leadership claims that the IS terrorist militia only acts as mercenaries. The real masterminds of the attacks are the USA and Israel. That’s why some of last night’s rockets were fired at the Mossad spy center in Erbil, northern Iraq.

Iraq strongly protested against the attacks from its neighboring country and described Iran’s accusations as false. Four uninvolved civilians were killed by the rocket strikes. However, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanani, viewed the military operation as a complete success: With a precise and targeted operation, the “headquarters of the criminals” were identified and hit, so to speak.

“Involved in skirmishes for decades”

If you look around the streets of Tehran today, the reactions vary. “That was the right thing to do,” says a passer-by. “If Iran didn’t defend itself, then maybe there would be more and more attacks against Iran. Yes, those missiles last night were right!”

A shop owner, however, waves it off and says: “I don’t think the Iranian people will get anything out of it. We have been involved in military skirmishes and economic wars for decades.”

The missiles fired by the Iranian military last night have a range of 1,200 kilometers. Theoretically, you could also use it to hit targets in Israel from Iran – such as Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The Iranian military demonstrated its effectiveness last night.

“There will be no counterattack”

Nader Karimi Juni is an analyst and journalist from Tehran. He does not believe there is any danger that Iran could intervene in the war in Gaza. “It seems to me that last night’s rocket attacks were mainly a signal internally, to Iran’s own people,” he says.

At the same time, however, it is clear: “The Kurds there in the Iraqi Kurdistan region will not respond to these rocket attacks. There will be no counterattack against Iran. And therefore no escalation.”

The Iranian leadership wanted to show strength by retaliating for the terrorist attack in Kerman. They have now achieved their goal, so he does not expect any further escalation.