As Iran again targeted US allies across the Middle East, including Israel’s neighbor Jordan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran on Tuesday that Jerusalem would respond overwhelmingly to a strike on its territory.

“We are prepared for every scenario,” he said at a conference in the Negev city of Dimona.

“I have one message for Iran’s leaders: Do not count on there being calm if you attack us,” he continued. “Do not expect a repeat of what happened before, because there will be no repeat. The previous response was powerful enough, but any further attempt to harm us will be met with a different response — far more powerful.”

Israel struck Iranian petrochemical facilities in southwest Iran on June 8 in response to Iranian missile attacks on Israel, after which a ceasefire was quickly reinstated under US pressure.

“The days when someone can attack us without paying a heavy price are over,” said Netanyahu. “We proved that in confronting Iran’s axis of evil, and we will continue to act decisively against anyone who harms us. That is how we have acted, and that is how we will continue to act.”

Iran has so far not made good on its threat last week to target Israel as well if American strikes persist.

The US launched strikes on Iran early in the morning, hours after US President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, as the two countries have repeatedly skirmished over the past few days.

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three ships traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight. Two of the vessels were tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates, which threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the Gulf nation back into fighting with Tehran.

Hours after the US said it ended its campaign of strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf was hit in at least four locations, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were attacking Iran in retaliation.

“Four points in the city of Bushehr were hit by enemy projectiles at noon (0830 GMT),” deputy provincial governor Ehsan Jahanian was quoted by official news agency IRNA as saying, blaming the attacks on the United States.

Also, Iranian state television reported that five explosions were heard around the port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz.

Explosions were also heard on Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm, in........

© The Times of Israel