Israel was preparing a military response to Iran's missile attack this week that heightened fears of a wider regional war, an Israeli official said Saturday, as fighting raged in Lebanon and in Gaza.
An Israeli military official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly, said the army "is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack."
He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response, which analysts and Israeli media said would likely be designed to deal an immense blow to Iran, despite international calls for de-escalation and warnings from Tehran it would retaliate.
Meanwhile, President Isaac Herzog said on Saturday that Iran remains an "ongoing threat" to Israel, a year after the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
"In many senses, we are still living the aftermath of October 7... It is in the ongoing threat to the Jewish State by Iran and its terror proxies, who are blinded by hatred and bent on the destruction of our one and only Jewish nation state," Herzog said in a statement to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas onslaught.
As reports of a potential retaliatory strike emerged, Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi took to social media to warn that Iran's response to any aggression by Israel would be "stronger."
Araghchi posted the message on X, sharing a photograph of himself with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, following what he described as discussions on regional issues.
He asserted that Iran will stand with the Resistance in any situation and made clear that the response to any aggression by the Israeli regime would be stronger, challenging them to test Iran's determination.
"Our reaction to any attack by the Zionist regime is completely clear," Araghchi told reporters in the Syrian capital after his meeting with Assad.
"For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and even stronger," he said.
Notably, in its second-ever direct attack on its regional foe, the Islamic Republic, which backs armed groups across the Middle East, on Tuesday launched about 200 missiles at Israel in revenge for a spate of Israeli killings of militant leaders.
The missile attack, which killed one person in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, caused some damage to an Israeli air base, according to satellite images.
It came on the day Israeli ground forces began raids into Lebanon after days of intense strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon, transforming nearly a year of cross-border exchanges with the Iran-backed militants into full-blown war.
Meanwhile, a high-level Hezbollah source said on Saturday that the group had lost contact with Hashem Safieddine, widely tipped to be the next Hezbollah leader, after air strikes this week in Beirut. A second source close to the group also said communication had been cut off.
The movement has not yet named a new chief after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah late last month in a massive strike in the Lebanese capital, triggering in part Iran's missile attack.
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Policy in Washington, told AFP that both Israel and Iran were "taking huge gambles."
"Everything right now hinges on Israel's response," he said.
Rapidly escalating violence this week also included intensifying Hezbollah rocket fire and strikes on Israel claimed by allies of Iran from as far away as Yemen, just before the first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 unprecedented attack on Israel, which triggered war in Gaza.
Nearly a year into the Gaza war, Israel shifted its focus north, saying it aims to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah attacks to return home. Since late September, the conflict with Hezbollah has escalated into full-on war.
US warns Israel against striking Iran's oil facilities
Notably, on Friday, US President Joe Biden warned Israel against striking Iran's oil facilities, saying he was trying to rally the world to avoid the escalating prospect of an all-out war in the Middle East.
But his predecessor Donald Trump, currently campaigning for another term in power, went so far as to suggest Israel should "hit" the Islamic republic's nuclear sites. Biden had earlier said that he won't support any plans for such a response.
Making a surprise first appearance in the White House briefing room, Biden said that Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu "should remember" US support for Israel when deciding on next steps.
"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden told reporters, when asked about his comments a day earlier that Washington was discussing the possibility of such strikes with its ally.
Biden added that the Israelis "have not concluded how they're, what they're going to do" in retaliation for a huge ballistic missile attack by Iran on Israel on Tuesday.
The price of oil had jumped after Biden's remarks Thursday. Any long-term rise could be damaging for US Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat confronts Republican Trump in a November 5 election where the cost of living is a major issue.
Biden said he was doing his best to avoid a full-scale conflagration in the Middle East, where Israel is bombing Lebanon in a bid to wipe out the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
"The main thing we can do is try to rally the rest of the world and our allies into participating... to tamp this down," he told reporters.
"But when you have (Iranian) proxies as irrational as Hezbollah and the Huthis (of Yemen)... it's a hard thing to determine."
Biden however had tough words for Netanyahu, with whom he has had rocky relations as he seeks to manage Israel's response following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The Israeli premier has repeatedly ignored Biden's calls for restraint on Lebanon, and on Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.
Biden deflected a question on whether he believed Netanyahu was hanging back on signing a Middle East peace deal in a bid to influence the US presidential election.
"No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think Bibi should remember that," Biden said.
"And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that."
Biden said he had still not spoken to Netanyahu since the Iranian attack, which involved some 200 missiles, but added their teams were in "constant contact."
"They're not going to make a decision immediately, and so we're going to wait to see when they want to talk," the US leader added.