Iran’s supreme leader hints that Tehran suffered little in its massive attack on Israel

Iran’s supreme leader has dismissed any discussion about whether Tehran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel has hit anything there, a tacit admission that despite launching a massive attack, few projectiles actually reached their targets.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments to senior military leaders on Sunday did not address the apparent Israeli retaliatory attack on the central city of Isfahan on Friday, even as its air defense systems opened fire and Iran grounded commercial flights in much of the country .

Analysts believe that both Iran and Israel, regional arch-rivals locked in a shadow war for years, are trying to defuse tensions after a series of escalating attacks between them, as Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues and the wider region is ablaze and sets fire.

The 85-year-old ayatollah made the comments at a meeting attended by the highest ranks of Iran’s regular army, police and paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, a powerful force within the Shiite theocracy.

“Debates by the other side about how many missiles were fired, how many of them hit the target and how many did not, are of secondary importance,” he said in a speech on state television.

“The main issue is the rise of the Iranian nation and the will of the Iranian military in an important international arena. This is what matters.”

Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles that sought to overwhelm Israel’s air defenses in the April 13 attack — the first attack on Israel by a foreign power since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War .

However, Israeli air defenses and fighter jets, backed by the US, Britain and neighboring Jordan, shot down the vast majority of the incoming fire.

Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press on Saturday showed the Iranian attack caused only minor damage at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, including taking out a section of a taxiway that Israel quickly repaired.

Iran’s attack came in response to a suspected Israeli attack on April 1 targeting a consular building next to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, that killed two Guard generals, among others.

“Today, thanks to the work of our armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the army and the police, each in its own way, all praise be to Allah, the image of the country around the world has become commendable,” added Ayatollah Khamenei even as Iran faces public anger over its economy and crackdown on dissent.