Tehran, Iran——

A top Revolutionary Guard general threatened on Thursday to target Israeli “nuclear facilities” if Israel attacks sites in Iran, state media reported, anticipating retaliation for a weekend attack by Tehran.

Israel vowed to respond to Iranian airstrikes, which were mostly intercepted. World leaders urged de-escalation.

Violence involving Iran-aligned groups has surged across the Middle East since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas and an attack by a Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group on October 7.

Tehran’s first direct attack on Israel was launched late Saturday in retaliation for an April 1 airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals.

Israeli officials have not said when or where the country will retaliate, but Ahmed Khatalab, the Iranian Guard’s head of nuclear protection and security, said Iran would retaliate against any attack on nuclear facilities.

“If the Zionist regime [Israel wants to take action against our nuclear centers and facilities, it will definitely and surely face our reaction,” the official news agency IRNA quoted Haghtalab as saying.

“For the counterattack, the nuclear facilities of the [Israeli] Regimes will be targeted and enforced by advanced weapons. “

His warning came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel reserved “the right to protect itself” after Iran launched attacks using hundreds of drones and missiles.

Khatalab said the threat of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could lead Tehran to “modify and deviate from its announced nuclear policies and considerations,” without elaborating.

The Islamic Republic has always maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denies seeking an atomic bomb, accusing arch-enemy Israel of carrying out destructive attacks on its facilities and assassinating nuclear scientists in recent years.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in 2019 that Iran could develop nuclear weapons but would not do so because Islam prohibits their use.

U.S. and other Western officials say the continued expansion of Iran’s nuclear program demonstrates its military aims.

In 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from a landmark deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear activities while providing some relief from crippling Western sanctions.

Iran has since gradually reduced its commitment to the terms of the 2015 deal, and diplomatic efforts to revive the deal have long stalled as some sanctions were reimposed.

Most of Iran’s known nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, are located in the center of the country.

Iran’s only nuclear power plant is located in the southern port city of Bushehr.

According to Khatalab, Iran has identified Israel’s nuclear center and has “necessary information on all targets.”

It is well known that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, but Israel has never admitted this.