“Prepare your coffins,” a banner in Tehran warned Iran’s adversaries.Credit…Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
‘We are a missile power in the world’
After hitting targets in neighboring Pakistan, Iraq and Syria with missiles, Iran has played up not only its military capabilities but its determination to strike enemies at will. Iran’s show of strength was meant to reassure conservatives domestically and militant allies abroad as well as to warn Israel, the U.S. and terrorist groups that Iran will retaliate if attacked, according to two Iranians affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.
According to Iran, the attack in Syria targeted Islamic State; the one in Pakistan struck another terrorist group, Jaish al-Adl; and the one in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region was aimed at what Tehran says is an Israeli base for intelligence gathering.
Yet for all the missiles and belligerent words, Iran once again appeared to stop short of a major escalation that might further inflame a regional conflict centered on the war in Gaza. Analysts say that Iran wanted the attacks to be measured, flexing its muscles without getting into a direct fight with Israel, the U.S. or their allies.
Quotable: “We are a missile power in the world,” Iran’s defense minister, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, told reporters, according to state media. “Wherever they want to threaten the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will react, and this reaction will definitely be proportionate, tough and decisive.”
Response: Pakistani forces earlier today carried out strikes inside Iran, responding one day after Iranian forces attacked what they said were militant camps in Pakistan.
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