Not the Iran of 1981 when Saddam Hussein invaded: Envoy warns Israel of reprisal

Iranian Ambassador to India Iraj Elahi on Friday said Iran’s recent missile strike at Israel was to push the Middle East towards stability and warned of reprisal if it was attacked. In an exclusive interview with India Today, Elahi said the country was not the Iran of 1981 when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded it and occupied different parts of the nation.
“The war now is a war of technology. This time we learnt from our first operation in April and used new generation missiles. We will deploy another generation of our missiles if Israel attacks us,” he said.
On October 1, Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and the assassination of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran had also fired ballistic missiles at Israel in April following an attack on its consulate in Syria but most of them were shot down.
Israel has vowed that it would retaliate, fuelling concerns of an all-out war in the unstable Middle East region. Speculation is rife that Israel could strike Iran’s military or nuclear targets.
The Iranian ambassador said Israel would not take any drastic steps that would prompt an even bigger Iranian reprisal and emphasised that Iran had reached self-sufficiency to defend itself.
“They will not do anything forcing Iran to react. Iran has reached self-sufficiency to defend itself. We hope Israel’s adviser or the US can convince Israel not to attack our nuclear facilities,” he said.
The Iranian envoy asserted that Tehran’s recent attack had damaged Tel Aviv’s military facilities even though the Benjamin Netanyahu regime said it had minimal impact. “The missile attack by Iran has pushed the Middle East region towards stability. The intention of Iran was deterrence,” Elahi said.
Calling Israel an “occupying power”, the Iranian envoy said its strikes at Israel’s air bases affected the Jewish nation’s military capability. He also claimed that Israel’s famed ‘Iron Dome’ failed to intercept Iranian missiles.
“Iran’s strikes have damaged the military capability of this illegal and illegitimate regime to invade and strike Gaza more,” he said.
Elahi said Israel just understood the “language of force” and castigated the Benjamin Netanyahu-regime for ignoring human principles and ethics while bombarding the Gaza Strip in its war with Hamas.
The ambassador also said that slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was in favour of a ceasefire to end the hostilities in Lebanon. Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike carried out by the Israeli military in Beirut last week.
“The two sides were closing in on a ceasefire. Netanyahu has hijacked the stability of the region. Netanyahu knows his destiny is based on this war. He is trying to save himself by dragging the war. Nasrallah was in favour of a ceasefire,” Elahi said.
Calling Hezbollah a political party, the Iranian envoy said it was just trying to “liberate occupied parts of Lebanon” under the occupation of Israel. “Israel is the main cause of tension in the region and should stop its expansionist policy,” he said.
Elahi said the United States had not showed any inclination to fuel the tension in the region and called upon India to use its influence to stop the “genocide” in Gaza.
“India is an important and influential country at the international level and has good relations with Israel. It can convince Israel to stop the genocide. India called the October 7 attack by Hamas a terror act. But, the number of deaths in Gaza has exceeded 41,000,” he said.