VIDEO | Andonovic: What will Israel's revenge on Iran be?
From nuclear plants to oil refineries, all options are on the table as Israel is expected to launch a retaliatory attack on strategic Iranian sites.
Israel and Iran have never been closer to sparking a regional war in the Middle East.
Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Tuesday in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week and the July 31 assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately vowed retaliation and said Iran "made a big mistake and will pay for it," and the United States reiterated that it would help its Israeli ally.
All options are on the table, according to public statements by Israeli officials. These could include strikes on nuclear and oil facilities, targeted assassinations of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and precision strikes on military targets.
The Natanz Uranium Enrichment Complex and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center are two sites at the heart of Iran's nuclear program. The central city of Isfahan, the site of the Israeli response in April, is also the location of several important facilities, including military companies.
However, targeting Iran's nuclear sites in response to an attack that caused minimal damage could be considered disproportionate. Any such attack also has the potential to backfire and force Tehran to accelerate its nuclear program to deter future attacks on its soil.
American President Biden himself has already stated that he will not support an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
On the other hand, most of Iran's nuclear facilities are located deep underground, under mountains, which makes them difficult for Israeli missiles to reach.
Oil fields – which are open and less guarded than heavily secured nuclear sites – could be alternative military targets. Hitting Iran's lucrative oil sector at a time when Iranian authorities are facing mounting public pressure over the country's poor economic situation could also work to Israel's political advantage.
But many of the good connoisseurs of the occasions are not convinced that Israeli attacks on Iranian oil facilities will be considered justified in the eyes of the global community.
Iranian naval base facilities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval forces are other potential Israeli targets. Along with Iran's capital, Tehran, the port city of Bandar-e Bushehr, which houses major energy infrastructure and Iranian naval facilities, is an important hub.
Tel Aviv could also continue its targeted killing spree by targeting Iranian leaders as it has done with Hezbollah, Iran's best-armed and best-equipped ally in the region. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been taken to a safe location in Iran under heightened security, according to a Reuters report, after Israel killed Nasrallah last week in an attack on Beirut.
Tehran has made no secret of its concern about the infiltration of Israeli agents, including Iranians on the Israeli payroll, and is conducting a thorough personnel investigation of mid- and high-ranking IRGC members.
Iran is also wary of the risk of starting a bigger war with Israel.
The Chief of the Joint General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, said that the IRGC is ready to repeat the missile attack with "greater intensity" if Israel retaliates on its territory. Bagheri also warned that Iran has so far avoided targeting Israeli civilians, but that it would be "completely feasible".
So far, Israel has not retaliated against Iran, apart from the threats. But since this morning, it has fired on the Lebanese capital Beirut, where five people died, as well as on a weapons warehouse located near the Syrian port of Latakia, where three people died.
In parallel, the limited ground operation of the Israeli army continues in the border area between Lebanon and Israel, where no deeper penetration of the Israelis into Lebanese territory has yet been observed. The Israeli army said that eight Israeli soldiers have been killed so far in this ground operation.