'It was not a strike': Iran FM dismisses Israeli weapons as 'children toys'

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has praised the combat readiness of the country’s air defense systems and described the Israeli military's unmanned aerial vehicles as more like children's toys.

“What happened last night was not a strike,” Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview with NBC News on Friday as he commented on the sound of explosions in the country's central city of Isfahan and subsequent shots that the air defense systems fired at a suspicious object.

The top Iranian diplomat went on to emphasize that Tehran is not seeking to escalate conflict unless the Israeli regime commits a folly and launches a new attack.

“As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions,” he said.

Amir-Abdollahian, however, underscored that Iran will respond at an immediate and “maximum level” in case Israel opts to launch an attack.

“If Israel takes a decisive action against my country and this is proven to us,” he said, “our response will be immediate and to the maximum and will cause them to regret it.”

Operation True Promise yields four 'historic' achievements, says top commander

A high-profile Iranian military commander says the country’s recent Operation True Promise against Israel constituted four historic achievements.

The Iranian foreign minister also said the Operation True Promise against Israel was intended to be “a warning.” “We could have hit Haifa and Tel Aviv,” he said. “We could have also targeted all the economic ports of Israel.”

"But our red lines was civilians,” Amir-Abdollahian pointed out. “We only had a military purpose.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched extensive missile and drone strikes late Saturday night on the Israeli-occupied territories, marking the first direct attack by the Islamic Republic against the Israeli regime.

The series of retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, inflicted damage on Israeli military bases across the occupied lands.

It was in retaliation for the Israeli attack on April 1 against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, located next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district.

The airstrike killed two senior Iranian military personnel who were on an advisory mission to Syria as well as five of their accompanying officers.

Iran: UN condemnation of Israeli airstrike could have 'obviated' retaliation

Iran’s mission to the UN has said that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel’s attack on its consular section in Syrian capital could have prevented the need for retaliation.

IRGC said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the seven martyrs of the terrorist attack.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Friday, Amir-Abdollahian emphasized that Iran had no prior knowledge of the Operation al-Aqsa Storm launched by Gaza-based resistance groups against Israel in October.

He described Hamas as a liberation movement opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

The Iranian foreign minister called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu “unhinged,” and blamed the Israeli regime for the stalled indirect negotiations with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on prisoner exchanges.

He lambasted Israel of making excessive demands to compensate for its failure to meet its objectives in the war in Gaza.

“It has not been able to destroy Hamas or to arrest the leaders inside Gaza, has not been able to disarm Hamas, has not been able to destroy the weapons and equipment,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

“Therefore, it had to resort to killing women and children,” he added, “and now at the negotiating table, they are trying to get what they could not get on the ground.”

The Iranian foreign minister expressed hope that a deal will be reached soon for the release of the hostages as part of a broad settlement.

“Hamas is ready to go ahead with the release of the captive within the format of a humanitarian political package encompassing everything,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

“I think now is a good time,” he said. “There is a good chance for this.”

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