Iran warns it will hit US, Israeli infrastructure if its own is targeted

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, is warning the U.S. and Israel against targeting his country’s infrastructure. 

“Let the enemy know that whatever they do, we will undoubtedly respond with a proportionate and immediate retaliation; no malice will go unanswered, and today we decree the rule of ‘an eye for an eye’; bluntly, without exception.,” Ghalibaf wrote on the social platform X. 

“If they initiate war on infrastructure, we will undoubtedly target their infrastructure,” he added.

Over the weekend, Israel targeted numerous Iranian oil facilities, resulting in black smoke filling the air over Tehran.

Energy is both crucial to Iran’s economy and its survival, as its domestic production is used internally. China buys most of its exports.

Israel said it had targeted energy facilities in Iran because that country’s military was using them, according to a report in The New York Times. It also reported that following last summer’s strikes by Israel on Iran, Tehran had power and water cuts over the summer, which forced schools, universities and government offices to close to ration the use of energy and water.

Iran has also launched attacks aimed at energy exports of Arab countries in the region that are housing U.S. bases. Qatar also says Iran has attacked its civilian infrastructure, according to a report in The Times of Israel, though Qatari officials did not offer specifics.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), wrote Monday on X that the damage to the energy facilities in Iran risk “contaminating food, water and air – hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre existing medical conditions.”

Ghebreyesus also said that rain “laden with oil” has fallen in parts of Iran. The WHO chief urged “all parties to de-escalate and prevent further risks to people’s health, impacts on health facilities and workers, a further expansion of the conflict across the region. 

“Peace is always the best medicine,” he concluded. 

As of Monday, more than 1,240 civilians, including at least 194 children, have died since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, according to the Iran-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.