The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has warned Israel it would face "bitter consequences" after its attack on Iranian military sites, local media said on Monday.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will respond to Israel “appropriately," after Israel openly attacked Iranian military sites for the first time this weekend.

“We are not seeking war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country and will respond appropriately to the Zionist regime’s aggression,” Pezeshkian was quoted by state TV on Sunday as saying.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the strikes “severely harmed” Iran and achieved all of Israel’s goals.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday said Israel's attack on the Islamic republic "should neither be exaggerated nor minimized."

A driver rammed his truck into a crowd of people at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday, killing a man and injuring more than two dozen people, medics and police said.

With the U.S. presidential election heading into the home stretch, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely be hoping for Donald Trump to return to the White House.

By Javed Ali, University of Michigan

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/israels-latest-strike-against-iran-may-actually-de-escalate-regional-tensions-for-now-at-least-242276

Iran warned it would defend itself after Israeli air strikes killed at least four soldiers and further stoked fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East.

Israel sent a message to Iran on Friday ahead of its retaliatory airstrikes warning the Iranians not to respond, three sources with knowledge of the issue told U.S. news portal Axios.

The U.S. and Britain called for "de-escalation" after Israel on Saturday hit military targets across Iran in deadly retaliatory strikes as Muslim countries blamed Israel for exacerbating the conflict.