This is what Israel could hit in response to Iran ICBM attack

Israeli leaders vowed to retaliate against Iran for Tuesday's ballistic missile barrage, though it is unclear how and when they will do that.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed that Tehran would "pay for" the attack and met with the heads of the security establishment on Wednesday at the Kirya, the Israeli equivalent of the Pentagon, in Tel Aviv.

"The regime in Tehran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to exact a price from our enemies," he added. "We will keep to the rule we have determined: Whoever attacks us — we attack them."

It's unclear how exactly Israel will retaliate, though the prime minister indicated earlier this week, before the Iranian attack, that pushing for regime change could be on the table.

"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country," he said in a video statement on Monday addressed to Iranian civilians. "When Iran is finally free, and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think — everything will be different."

National security experts have pointed to Iran's nuclear facilities, oil production facilities, and air defense systems as possible targets depending on how strongly Israel wants to retaliate.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged leaders to approve strikes targeting Tehran's energy and nuclear facilities and to make regime change in Iran a part of their objectives.

"What Israel needs to do immediately, we need to take out Iran's nuclear program, we need to attack Iran's energy facilities, and we need to attack the regime itself right away because Iran made a fatal mistake of shooting 200 ballistic missiles at the state of Israel. Enough is enough," he said on CNN. "I coined the term that the Israeli people have shown to be a nation of lions. Well, the lion is now waking up in its den, and we're roaring, and it's about to hit back."

Israel's air defense systems were able to intercept a large number of the roughly 180 ballistic missiles fired from Iranian territory. Two U.S. Navy destroyers were also involved in intercepting some of the missiles.

"There were a small number of hits in the center of Israel and other hits in southern Israel," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman, said Tuesday night after the attack concluded.

Israel and Iran have been involved in a shadow conflict that has taken place over several decades. Iran's nuclear program has long been a target of Israel in the past, as have the scientists involved with it.

The United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018, which it had entered in 2015. Last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly that his country was open to reengaging for a new agreement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged this summer that Iran is "probably one or two weeks away" from producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, though "they haven't produced a weapon itself, but that's something, of course, that we track very, very carefully."

Iran rarely attacks Israel directly, though it did so in April in a similar attack to Tuesday's. The April attack featured approximately 300 ballistic and cruise missiles and drones. Israel, like this time, was able to intercept a large majority of the projectiles, and the attack similarly caused little damage and few casualties.

After the April attack, the Israelis carried out a targeted strike near a military base near Isfahan. At the time, the U.S. urged Israel to carry out a limited response to demonstrate its capabilities without responding forcefully enough to escalate tension between the two countries further.

The U.S. warned this time around that Iran should expect to face "severe consequences."

"We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case," Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, told reporters on Tuesday.

A major unknown is whether Israel's retaliation would push Tehran into a subsequent response, and if that were to happen, it could lead to a much larger war.

Israel has been involved in various conflicts over the past year with Iran's proxies, but the April and Oct. 1 aerial assaults are the only times Iran has gotten directly involved. Israel's military has fought against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon for almost a year, largely degrading both.

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Hamas carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another roughly 250 were kidnapped, while Hezbollah began attacking Israel with cross-border fires a day later.

Israel's forces began ramping up attacks on Hezbollah, including through new limited ground operations in southern Lebanon. The IDF announced on Wednesday that eight soldiers were killed in fighting in Lebanon.