“Tehran will burn,” said Israel on Saturday while warning Iran to stop firing missiles at Jerusalem, after three people died and dozens were wounded. This remark came from Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz as he said that Iran will pay a heavy price for harming Israeli citizens, after an assessment meeting with army’s chief of staff. “If (Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front — Tehran will burn,” Katz said.Iran retaliates with heavy missile fireIn a swift counterattack, Iran launched waves of ballistic missiles and armed drones towards Israel. Sirens wailed across Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as explosions lit up the night sky. Buildings trembled, and citizens took shelter for several hours, compounding anxieties already heightened by the ongoing war in Gaza that erupted after the October 7 Hamas attacks.While Israel claimed to have intercepted many of the incoming threats, damage and casualties were reported in several locations.Netanyahu vows to neutralise Iranian threatPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday reiterated that Israel’s objective was to “eliminate any Iranian threat,” though he also urged the Iranian people to revolt against their regime.“Israel is not actively seeking regime change in Tehran,” he said, “but we would certainly welcome it.”Both nations have signalled that more attacks are likely, raising alarms about the potential for a full-scale war in the region. International calls for restraint have so far failed to de-escalate the rapidly spiralling tensions.
