Iran will not attack Israel over latest missile strike, foreign minister says

Iran’s foreign minister said his country will not retaliate to Israel’s latest missile strike, which occurred Friday morning, signaling a possible end to the escalation in the Middle East.

Israel launched a retaliatory strike against Iran, after the Middle Eastern country launched unprecedented airstrikes on Israel last weekend for reportedly killing some of its people in Syria. 

Iran launched 300 missiles in its attack last week, which was meant as a warning that Iran had the capabilities to respond to future Israeli attacks, per CNN.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied that Friday’s attack was even a “strike” in comments on NBC News’s “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” and said Iran quickly shot the missiles down that were  “more like toys that children play with.” 

Amir-Abdollahian said that his country would not respond to the attack, unless Israel launched another one.

"As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions," he said. "If Israel takes a decisive action against my country and this is proven to us ... our response will be immediate and to the maximum and will cause them to regret it. If not, then we are done.”

Israel has taken credit for the attack, according to the Hill, but said it was “ineffective.” No injuries were reported in the attack, which targeted an Iranian nuclear facility. The White House has said little on Friday’s attack, but previously encouraged Israel to avoid escalating the conflict. 

Amir-Abdollahian told CNN that Iran would not target United States bases unless the country assisted Israel in attacking.

“In (the) previous operation, we announced to the Americans that we will not target American bases and installations in the region other than if we come across a condition in which the United States of America puts itself beside the Israeli government in order to expand the warfare intentions,” Amir-Abdollahian said.