Israel considering strikes on Iran infrastructure, oil facilities in retaliation for missile barrage

Israel is considering carrying out a “significant retaliation” against Iran for its missile strikes in Israeli territory, including potential hits on Iranian strategic infrastructure such as oil, gas and nuclear sites.

Following Iran’s launching of around 200 ballistic missiles on targets in Israel on Tuesday night, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that “Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay for it”, vowing that “whoever attacks us, we will attack them”.

Such a retaliation may not be far off, with Netanyahu having convened a meeting with Israel’s security chiefs at the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv today in order to discuss the issue.

According to the news outlet, Axios, which cited unnamed Israeli officials, the meeting ended with the understanding that Israel would respond to the attack militarily but without specifying as to how it would do so, leaving the options open and flexible.

READ: Iran says action against Israel ‘concluded’ unless it invites further retaliation

The report stated, however, that likely plans could include strikes on Iran’s critical energy infrastructure, such as its oil and gas rigs, or by direct strikes on its nuclear sites.

Any such attack on Iran’s oil facilities could seemingly devastate the country’s economy, with Tehran being the third largest oil producer amongst the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) member states and is highly reliant on its energy exports.

With regard to any method Israel would use in its retaliation, though, there are also significant concerns over Iran’s subsequent response. As one Israeli official put it to Axios, “We have a big question mark about how the Iranians are going to respond to an attack, but we take into consideration the possibility that they would go all in, which will be a whole different ball game”.

READ: US warns Iran at UN: don't target us or Israel