TEHRAN- The Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, has noted that Tehran targeted only Israeli military bases.

In a meeting with resident ambassadors in Iran on Sunday, he said that “the restraint in legitimate defense and punishment of the Zionist regime means that we did not define any non-military target in our response.”

“Our armed forces did not target any economic or civilian location,” he added. 

Given the recent anti-Israeli operation, Iran’s top diplomat stressed that operations were carried out that effectively targeted the intelligence center and the eye of the Zionist regime for directing all operations of the past six months, including the recent operation on the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus.

He went on to add, “Even in the attack on the military base, which was the operational center of the Zionist regime against the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, the necessary precision for dealing with and responding to the Zionist regime was considered.”

“Our sole goal in legitimate defense is to punish the Israeli regime,” the minister said. 

Amir Abdollahian continued by saying that “we have announced to our brothers and friends in the region where America has military bases that our sole goal in legitimate defense is to punish the Israeli regime, and we are not seeking to target individuals and bases of America in the region.”

“We have never welcomed escalating tensions in the region, but we have warned that if the United States uses the space or territory of targeted countries to defend and support Tel Aviv in a biased manner, then inevitably the American military base in that country will be targeted,” he added.

“We consider the security of our neighbors as our own security,” he said.

“We appreciate our neighbors and brothers in the region who quickly received this message and urged America and others to immediately avoid any war from their land. We are always committed to the security of our brothers in neighboring countries and in the region,” he highlighted. 

He also pointed out that the neighborhood policy of President Ebrahim Raisi’s government is one of the fundamental priorities of Iran, and Tehran regards the security of its neighbors as the its own security. 

Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel, in an unprecedented attack that came as a response to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago.

The overnight escalation came more than six months into Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and pushed the besieged territory to the brink of famine. 

The war has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.

The international community has reacted with alarm following the attack on Israeli territory.

Tehran had been threatening to attack Israel after an air raid on April 1, widely blamed on Israel, killing 13 people, including two elite Iranian generals.

Tensions between Israel and Iran have soared since Israel’s six-month war in the Gaza Strip.