Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran during the upcoming Jewish holiday period, after the largest exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran since July.
Iran said it attacked US military targets in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraqi Kurdistan and the United Arab Emirates, after the US military on Tuesday said it had struck Iranian targets including air defenses and mine-laying capabilities in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Later Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said one of its oil tankers was targeted in a deadly attack by Iran in the strait.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth media group, Katz said that “for now,” Iran is “striking throughout the region except us.”
“But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively,” he said.
Israel is prepared for a possible attack from Iranian forces over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September, said Katz.
If Iran attacks, Israel will “respond with great force, independently of anyone else,” Katz said, adding that “our planes are ready to take off.”
“They like to attack on Jewish holidays because, after all, 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.
Israel and the US jointly launched the war on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
The fighting entered a truce in April, and the US and Iran signed an interim agreement with Iran in June, but the deal collapsed because of disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran launched a blockade early in the war. The US and Iran have since continued to exchange fire more sporadically.
US President Donald Trump denied on social media on Wednesday that he was seeking to force Iran’s leaders back to the negotiating table.
“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable.”
“When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” added Trump, who at the start of the war urged Iranians to seize their government once the bombing stops, but later cautioned the regime would crack down on rebels.
Iran reports 11 killed in US strikes
Iranian state media reported multiple US strikes near the Strait of Hormuz overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, and cited the law enforcement chief of the southwestern Khuzestan province as saying US missiles had killed seven people and wounded eight in three separate locations in the region.
The statement came after Iran’s Red Crescent said late Tuesday that a US attack on a home hosting a wedding in the southern Sirik county wounded more than 50 people and killed at least four, including a small child.
The incidents could not be independently verified. Iran’s West Asia News Agency aired purported footage of the targeted wedding site that showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard of a home. A pair of strappy women’s dress sandals lay abandoned on a blood-soaked carpet.
“I am just glad the casualties weren’t even worse,” said Ali Molahi, identified as the father of the bride.
US Central Command denied targeting civilians, telling Reuters on Wednesday that the US military “never targets civilians, unlike the Revolutionary Guards.”
Following the reported attack on the wedding, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called the US “Satan” and appeared to reference Israel as “junior Satan.”
Writing on X, Ghalibaf cited other mass-casualty incidents caused by the US-Israeli strikes.
Iran’s military command said: “American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences.”
In a similar warning, Iran’s security chief declared that the US would now face a “new strategy from Tehran.”
“You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei warned on X.
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