A handout picture provided by the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on October 27, 2024, shows him waving before a meeting in Tehran.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday (October 27, 2024) said Israel’s attack on the Islamic republic “should neither be exaggerated nor minimised”.

“The evil perpetrated by the Zionist regime (Israel) two nights ago must not be exaggerated or minimised,” he said in a post on X.

Without elaborating, he describing the deadly attack as a “miscalculation”.

On Saturday (October 26, 2024), Israel carried out air strikes against military sites in Iran in response to Tehran’s missile attack on October 1, itself a retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.

Israel strikes on Iran highlights: Four Iranian soldiers killed by Israeli airstrikes; Hezbollah launches drone strike at Israeli airbase

At least four Iranian soldiers were killed in the attack which Iran said caused “limited damage” to a few radar systems.

The Israeli military has warned Tehran against responding.

Iranian officials and media have since downplayed the Israeli strikes, highlighting Iran’s defensive capabilities but issued no vows of a direct response.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian paid tribute to the killed soldiers, hailing their efforts in “defending their land without fear.”