TEL AVIV, June 8. /TASS/. Israel has suspended strikes against Iran but reserves the right to respond to any attacks from Tehran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"At the moment, we are holding our fire, because after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it ceased attacking us. In the event that the terror regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us - we will respond with overwhelming force," he said in a televised address.
"Israel has a full right to self-defense, and we are exercising it to the extent necessary. I say this to you, just as I say this, with appreciation and respect, in my good conversations with my friend [US] President [Donald] Trump," he noted.
According to Netanyahu, Iran and Hezbollah are now "weaker than ever," while Israel is "stronger than ever." "But our battle against them is still not finished," he stressed. "In the last 24 hours, Iran and Hezbollah tried to impose a new equation upon us. And it is an equation I find intolerable and unacceptable.
"They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran - and we would not act. That did not happen, and it will not happen. Not on my watch!" he pledged.
Iran launched missile strikes on northern Israel late on June 7. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that all the missiles had been intercepted. The Iranian attack followed Israel’s raid against a Hezbollah facility in a Beirut neighborhood.
According to the Israeli side, this air raid came as response to Hezbollah’s shelling attacks on northern Israel. Prior to this, the Iranian authorities warned Israel of a retaliation if it strikes the Lebanese capital city. Overnight to June 8, Israel delivered a retaliatory strike against Iran, targeting military facilities in the country’s western and central parts. As a result, a petrochemical enterprise in the Khuzestan province was damaged. In the morning, Iran launched another shelling attack against Israeli territory. By mid-day, the sides declared a ceasefire.