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Israel was not targeting Iran's political leadership thus far in its hours-long strike on Iran, National Security Council head Tzahi Hanegbi said on Friday evening. "We have no plans to kill them," he said in a local television interview.
Hanegbi said that while Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz was destroyed, Israel cannot eliminate the Iranian nuclear program in its strikes. The aim of the Israeli operation that began in the pre-dawn hours on Friday is to impress upon Iran the need to abandon its nuclear aspirations.
"An Iranian retaliation is coming," he said, urging Israelis not to be euphoric after the apparent successes in the attacks on the military and nuclear facilities and the elimination of Iran's military leadership.
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Israeli officials said Iran had not yet launched a retaliatory strike on Israel because all those who were supposed to make relevant decisions on the Iranian response to the Israeli strikes had been killed.
The IDF Air Force chief, General Tomer Bar, said earlier that Israel's air superiority in Western Iran was critical. "Every missile launcher that we take out saves lives in Israel," He said.