ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran said Israel’s airstrikes overnight caused only “limited” damage as it minimizes the effects of the retaliation that has been anticipated for weeks.

Israel carried out a number of strikes against Iranian targets in Tehran and several other provinces early Saturday morning, around 2 a.m. local time. Israel said the attacks were a response to previous attacks by Iran.

Iran’s Air Defense Systems Command said in a statement that Israel struck military bases in the capital Tehran, the western province of Ilam and the southwestern province of Khuzestan. It claimed the missiles were “intercepted” and damage was “limited”, state-owned IRNA news agency reported.

Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said the attacks were a response to Tehran’s attacks on Israel.

“The Israeli Defense Forces have completed their mission. Should the regime in Iran make the mistake of starting another round of escalation, we will be obliged to respond,” he said in a televised statement.

Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel on October 1st. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and an IRGC commander.

After that attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran had made a “big mistake and it will pay for it.”

In April, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for an attack on Tehran’s embassy in Damascus that killed two Iranian generals and other officers. Iran blames Israel for the attack.

Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated after the Palestinian Hamas movement carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, sparking an ongoing war that has spread to Lebanon.