Israel says prepared to ‘respond with great force’ if Iran attacks

Israel’s defence minister on Wednesday said his country was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran, after Iranian forces targeted US military positions across the region.

Israel Katz said Israeli forces were prepared for a possible attack from Iran over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September.

“For now, they are striking throughout the region except us,” he told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

“But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively,” he added.

If Iran attacks, Israel would “respond with great force, independently of anyone else”, Katz said, adding that “our planes are ready to take off”.

On Wednesday, Iran launched a wave of attacks on US sites across the Middle East following an extensive American bombardment.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced attacks on US bases in Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, in the six-month conflict’s heaviest exchange in weeks.

Israel, which launched the war with the United States in late February, has stayed militarily on the sidelines since President Donald Trump reached a fragile ceasefire in April.

“They like to attack on Jewish holidays because they hate Jews. Look at the many things that have happened in the past. But we are prepared both defensively and offensively, in coordination with the United States in this regard,” Katz said.

Iran’s Islamic Republic, whose leaders are virulently anti-Israel and support armed groups such as Hamas, constitutionally recognises the country’s Jewish community which is estimated to number in the thousands.

Israel in the opening salvo of the war killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran collapsed after Iran attacked commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the oil-rich Gulf which Tehran sees as key leverage.

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