How will Israel and the US respond to Iran's attack on Israel? | DW News

an aerial assault launched by Iran

against Israel overnight the Israeli

Army says more than 300 missiles and

drones were fired almost all the

missiles were intercepted by Israel and

the United States the UK and Jordan also

shot down drones now Air Raid Sirens

sounded across Israel and explosions

were heard in

Jerusalem the Iranian revolutionary

guard says the assault is in retaliation

for an attack on its Consulate in Syria

on April 1st which killed 16 people in

including several Iranian generals it is

the first time Iran has launched a

direct military attack on Israel despite

Decades of

hostilities now there has been

widespread International condemnation of

the Iranian attack President Joe Biden

repeated the United States Ironclad

support for Israel Secretary General

Antonio gues criticized what he called a

serious escalation by Iran the UN

Security Council has called an emergency

meeting Germany's foreign minister

analena B also condemned the attack

saying it could plunge the entire region

into chaos and British prime minister

Rishi sunak called The Assault Reckless

and vowed to stand up for Israeli

security Israeli authorities have now

given the all clear meeting people no

longer need to stay close to air raage

shelters but our correspondent amen ISF

says it was a tense and Noisy Night in

Jerusalem as you can hear the sirens are

going off as you can hear sirens are

going off in Jerusalem you can see Iron

Dome is active uh the air defense is

active in the skies uh so we're going to

head to a shelter now but uh a lot of

Chaos in the streets a lot of screaming

uh people running uh for

cover let's get the very latest from our

correspondent Tanya Kramer joining us

now live from Jerusalem Tanya welcome

tell us the latest about the situation

in Israel this morning

while it is quiet for now but the Army

says they're remaining on high alert

however the airspace has reopened uh

we've been told uh so um but this comes

of course for many for Israelis and

Palestinians uh you know waking up after

such a night this is somewhat a

different reality after these direct and

unprecedented attacks uh from Iran uh to

uh on Israel now um are hearing more

details now also coming in this morning

from the Israeli military they said that

over 300 rones and missiles were

launched from Iran but also from other

countries such as uh from libanon there

were Rockets from Yemen but also some

from uh Iraq um they're saying that most

were intercepted uh um before they

reached Israeli territory by the Air

Defense Force by a coalition of

strategic partners as they are as the

Israeli military has said and they also

said that

99% uh were uh intercepted so uh with

some ballistic missiles however reaching

uh and hitting uh somewhere in Israel

one of them was hitting in they said the

never teim Air Base in the South uh we

don't have a full assessment there but

they're saying it was only minor damage

but also uh a child had been uh has been

uh injured critically injured

potentially by shner now of course after

all this happened the question is now uh

you know what will Israel do uh what how

will they retaliate how will their

response to this that is indeed the big

question here Tanya what do you think

Israel's next move will be are there

signs that we might see a swift

[Music]

retaliation well this is of course the

question right now there has been also a

phone call between US President Joe

Biden and prime minister Benyamin

Netanyahu in the course of the night and

there is an indication that the United

States they don't want to see a wider

Regional uh escalation coming uh out of

that uh they have also said that uh the

US helped actually Israel to take down

nearly all of the incoming drones and

missiles and that Israel should see this

as a success in a way uh that they could

uh um reboot all the those most at least

of those missiles coming in now uh it

will be in the hands now of the war

cabinet to decide the next steps uh

prime minister Benyamin nany and defense

minister um uh YF galand and we just

have to wait and see uh whether you know

how they will decide whether there will

be

retaliation and uh you know this could

affect of course most of the region here

and uh many don't want to see of course

wider escalation Tanya thank you so much

for your reporting that is Tanya Kramer

for us in

Jerusalem now US President Joe Biden

says he will convene the G7 countries to

plan a diplomatic response to Iran's

attack Biden announced the meeting after

speaking to Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu by phone now Biden

told Netanyahu Israel demonstrated a

remarkable ability to defend against

unprecedented attacks sending a clear

message that Israel's security cannot be

threatened Biden also said the US has

not seen any attacks on its own troops

in the region but confirmed US forces

helped Israel take down nearly all of

drones of the drones and missiles

launched from

Iran let's get the perspective from

Washington DP DC and speak to our

reporter Stefan Simons Stefan Biden has

cut short his weekend trip to Delaware

to hold crisis talks with his National

Security team we know his defense

secretary uh Lloyd Austin earlier spoke

to his Israeli counterpart what has the

US said publicly about this

attack well of course the US president

as well as the entire Administration was

very very quickly to stand by Israel

officially and with statements this

Ironclad standing by Israel quote comes

from National Security Council statement

which was given on Saturday now the

president has reiterated that this will

be a us position that when Israel is um

attacked and has to defend itself uh the

US will do everything it can to support

Israel and so it did uh during this

attack from or drone and missile attack

by Iran uh the US is saying that it shut

down itself 70 missile SL drones uh

during this attack and helped Israel by

doing so defend itself but as um said by

my colleague Tanya Jerusalem the Biden

Administration is very very very keen on

really putting a lid on this now uh Iran

apparently has uh concluded or has said

the UN Mission the the Iranian Mission

permanent Mission at the UN has uh early

on relatively early on Saturday still uh

said okay that concludes the matter for

us we retaliate retaliated and the Biden

Administration is now as we also

reported uh in telephone calls and

communication with Israeli counterparts

saying now a a return to measured uh

responses is necessary not a retaliation

by Israel to not escalate this into a

wider fullscale regional conflict so

let's dig in a little bit more into into

Washington's support of course support

for Israel a Mainstay of of us um

Foreign Affairs over decades what do you

think Ironclad support promised here is

going to mean in concrete terms

two-prong approach uh that is militarily

speaking the United States has many many

assets Navy assets air defense Assets in

the region Red Sea uh uh straight of

Horus Eastern Mediterranean uh this is

sophisticated Weaponry uh fighter jets

and whatsoever um and there will be

defensive support for Israel uh that

doesn't mean boots on the ground US

military engagement with US soldiers

anywhere near or close or anywhere in

the region there uh on behalf of Israel

or anybody else uh but support with

military assets specifically

intelligence

geospatial um uh radar information and

intelligence etc etc uh this will come

from the United States and will be

continuously provided to Israel um

that's what that means on the other hand

it's of course diplomatic support and

that is and we see already the results

of this um it is reaching out to all

part partners and allies of the United

States not just NATO Partners uh and and

friends and uh in the in in Europe it

also partners and allies in the Middle

East and meaning by this Arab Partners

Qatar Saudi Arabia Jordan um the Egypt

those countries the US is trying to make

sure that um all of them are on the same

page in trying to deescalate here now uh

meaning to really prevent uh a fullscale

regional conflict from happening thank

you so much that is DW's Stefan Simons

in Washington

DC Israel's defense minister yav Galant

has praised the Israeli forces for

blocking the attack and he paid tribute

to Israel's allies for their

support the state of Israel has faced an

attack of hundreds of missiles and

drones the Israel Defense Forces have

done an impressive job of blocking the

offensive

together with the United States and

other partners we managed to defend the

territory of the state of

Israel the whole world saw tonight who

Iran really

is it's a terror state that attacks

Israel from a distance of 1,500 km and

tries to activate all of its proxies

but the world has also seen the power of

a coalition and how Israel stands

alongside the Us and other countries to

block this

attack and in the studio I'm now joined

by DW's Middle East analyst shaie

rosanes shaie good to see you again how

easy do you think it is going to be for

Israel and the United States to agree on

a clear response to this Iranian attack

it seems to be another uh battle coming

you know when it comes to Israel and

America uh trying to find together a a

response because the way the Americans

see it uh Israel needs to respond

according to the result which seems to

be quite a you know almost a poor one um

if the Iranians wanted to it seems like

the way

American Defense Forces are interpreting

is that that this was mostly a

declarative uh statement by the Iranians

we have shown to the Israelis we can we

are not afraid but eventually there's

very little uh damage done on the ground

more limited than it could have been

correct um and then on the other hand

when you look at Israelis they they

mostly focus on the fact this is

unprecedented um and that this is you

know an attack on Israel's sovereignity

and they uh focus on the intentions of

Iran and so now it's the battle between

Israel I mean the battle would be a

harsh word but it's going to be back and

forth on how to agree on a response is

it going to be determined by the intent

and um this is what Israel would want to

do and then the there's the Americans we

see them they're trying to bring down

the escalation they want to they are

very much not interested in a in a in an

escalation into their the regional war

and it's going to take we'll see a back

and forth the next day is definitely and

what does it tell you the fact that this

response from Iran was more muted it

sounds like than it could have been and

the fact that it took two weeks after

this attack on Iran's Embassy in

Damascus on April 1st um to see this

kind of response what does that tell you

well first of all there's a very clear

um chain of hierarchy and

decision-making in Iran that takes time

but it's also you know we we're used to

seeing this shedow war between Israel

and Iran this back and forth of of

attacks cyber attacks and so on a lot of

it uh in the shadows a lot of it not

unannounced and the decision here

definitely was was for the Iranians was

determined you know because of the

Americans uh and we've seen a lot of

communication Intelligence coming uh

about that it's back and forth there was

a need for the Iranians to show that

they are not afraid and this is also

something that connects back to October

7th the biggest asset that Israel lost

on October 7th is deterrence uh when the

Israelis launched the attack in Damascus

on October on April 1st um just two

weeks ago um the Assumption was that the

Iranians are not going to operate uh so

severely definitely not from Iranian

ground definitely not directly into

Israeli soil so the fact that the

Iranians have done that shows us there

something in the very delicate uh

balance in this war that has been Never

official but very clear has been broken

do you think we've reached in that sense

a point of no return here that we are

moving from this kind of Shadow Warfare

to a direct attack on Israeli very much

depends on the is response and this is

exactly what the Americans are trying to

do they're trying to prevent a response

that will you know bring to an

escalation but Israelis feel like one of

their their important needs in in their

long-term defense strategy is rebuilding

theer and that can only be done the way

they see it by being very aggressive in

their responses to any uh attempt for

any attack uh I don't think we will see

an immediate response in Israel um this

is also partially why you know the the

the pace that we're seeing in this kind

of conflict between Israel and Iran

takes time but the last word has not

been said yet shie thank you as always

that's our Middle East analyst shie

rosanes and we can speak now to Hans

yakob Schindler a senior director of the

counter extremism project thank you so

much for speaking with us on DW news I'd

like to start with your thoughts on what

has happened here what do you make of

the attack last

night thank you so much for having me it

was clearly a Iranian escalation which

is needless um and un unfortunately

really complicates things but it was an

escalation again with an Iranian twist

so what happened is immediately after

the drones and the rockets were launched

from Iranian territory Iranian State TV

officially announced the launch giving

the Israelis hours in the case of the

drones and very long time in the case of

the missiles to actually get ready to

defend themselves including with the

help of the Americans so clearly the

Iranians wanted to show make a show

force and minimizing the damage that

that show force would uh meet upon

Israel um in including then of course

getting their un Mission here in New

York and there's going to be a security

council meeting later today uh evening

time in Germany here in New York on this

attack uh getting the UN mission of all

places to announce that this could be it

from our side this is our retaliation

Case Closed if you choose to close the

case and then having the permanent

representative to say we no longer want

any escalation and we only made use of

our right to self-defense according to

the UN Charter which of course codly

negates the the point that it has to be

a proportional response and 300 rockets

and drones uh is not exactly a part in

the eyes of theion a proportional

response so if I understand you

correctly it sounds like you think in

this case Iran needs needed to be seen

to be doing something in response do you

think that Iran could have mounted a

stronger attack and whether this was

something it

considered yeah I mean they haven't put

out all the stops uh don't forget uh

hisbah is in effect fact uh the

extension of the Iranian regime in in

Lebanon it does have a very sizable

Arsenal that has the potential to

actually overwhelm Israeli air defenses

as we have seen in Ukraine it's not the

individual Shai drones of the Iranians

are the problem it's the number of Shah

drones that are fired that is the

problem and this number that was fired

last night clearly was not sufficient to

overwhelm the Israeli air defenses nor

in my opinion was it designed to do so

it was simply aure Force inside Iran now

of course the regime celebrates this as

a great success but the problem is both

sides have lost deterrence here the

Israelis have lost dets because it is

unprecedented that the first time since

the Islamic revolution that Iran

attacked itself from its territory not

via proxy Israel but also the Iranian

really failure to hit anything literally

anything in Israel um means they now

just demonstrated that potentially their

systems are not good enough to withstand

Israel which then of course puts water

on the middle of those in Israel who say

look this is a good time to do a very

forceful response and will'll pay a very

little price because the Iranians just

showed us their system are not as good

as they thought they were so with

deterrence compromised as you say Do you

think that now after after almost more

than a decade of proxy war some kind of

threshold has been crossed here where

we've seen a direct Iranian attack on

Israeli

soil um just a small correction the

proxy war between Israel and Iran didn't

start a decade ago it started much much

longer ago from the very beginning the

enmity in against Israel was part of the

core ideological tenants of the Islamic

Republic of Iran so it's been at a

higher level in the last decade but it's

always been there it's always been one

of the as I said core ideological themes

of the Iranian regime um what happened

now is really we are in a new situation

in the Middle East and there's really no

good way out of this because both sides

have to find a new equilibrium again and

we are not yet there that it becomes

clear what that new equilibrium actually

would mean how concerned are you about

the likelihood of escalation here how do

you expect the Israelis to

react I mean it's a very very very tense

situation and any misstep from either

one of the sides um is going to really

lead to a potentially uncontrollable

escalation here we already have a

virtual shooting War not only with Gaza

but also with the houthis and hispa for

many many months since October 7

and we now have this direct attack here

if the Israeli response um is attacking

inside Iran and then there are also

levels of escalation that the Israelis

could choose they could just simply

attack some of the military

installations from which those rockets

and drones were launched this would be a

classic us response to hit those places

from which you were attacked but the

Israelis could also decide to First

finally solve what the Israeli

government has always said is the the

major threat the actual strategic threat

from Iran is its nuclear program and

attack the the Iranian nuclear

installations inside Iran which would be

another major major escalation hence

these unnamed us officials who are you

know talking to the media here in the

United States saying um Biden said to

Netanyahu we will defend you and we are

iron glad on your side but we will not

support you in any offensive operations

inside Iran now if this is what the

American president has said to the

Israeli Prime Minister whose country

just got attacked it is a very very

unprecedented statement from an American

president and it really shows how deep

deep the concern is in the US

Administration that this now can get out

of control do you think the US

Administration is also concerned about

spread outside the

region well look I mean my personal

assessment was that uh it's very likely

that Iranians would respond with attacks

against Israeli diplomatic and official

institutions outside the region um which

is something that the Iranians had done

before remind you there was attack in

South America in Argentina against a

Embassy and a cultural center in the

1990s even in Berlin where you are right

now in 1992 there was a killing of some

Iranian Exile politicians in the mikonos

attack there was a bombing of Israeli

tourists in 2012 in b as Bulgaria so IR

Iran has demonstrated that it can also

attack and strike outside uh the region

with the help by the way of his

operatives in each one of these cases so

you know there are levels of retaliation

that Iran has not yet taken and what do

you expect Iran's proxies in the region

like Hezbollah and the houthi rebels to

do

here well I mean one has to different

differentiate between um the proxies and

the control that Iran ultimately has

over these proxies now isbah is a 100%

Iranian creation it was at the core of

forming hisbah during the Civil War in

Lebanon in the 1980s from the onset so

hisbah really is an extension of the

Islamic Republic other proxies

especially the houthis have really been

newly added to the Iranian portfolio of

proxies only really after 2015 and the

attack of Saudi Arabia the UAE and Arab

states on the houthis in Yemen did yans

see a opportunity here strengthen their

relationship build up the houthis in

order to essentially let their Regional

rival so Arabia plead now the houthis

are therefore less indebted to the

Iranians than his and therefore Iran

will ever always be able to tell the

houthis to shoot if the Iranians

ultimately can tell the houthis to stop

shooting and they will that Still

Remains to be seen for example we've for

month now really been attempts to tal

calm down the houthis um and to tell

them that it's not worth continuing to

harass shipping in the Red Sea and so

far the Iranians even if they tried

doesn't seem to be able to stop them so

the escalation can also come

inadvertedly by these proxies who are

you know in various measures of control

of Iran now as you say we've seen

shipping disrupted in the Red Sea um

what do you think the effect here might

be on energy markets if we do continue

to see an escalation in the

region so far International transport

has managed to avert a real crisis um um

when it comes to the Red Sea of course

container prices have doubled shipping

Insurance have tripled uh and ships need

to go now around the African continent

which adds 10 days however this is not

really affecting energy exports so far

however the Irani

just before they launched those rockets

and drones actually took a Israeli owned

or link ship to the Zodiac group of a

offer uh the MS MSC Aries in the

straight of pus of the port of Huda vua

hostage essentially Like Pirates took a

helicopter and basically forced the ship

to enter an Iranian Harbor now if this

continues the straight of hus is

actually in a very large energy Supply

Route not only for Saudi and UAE oil but

also for LNG from Qatar which supplies

in a major way both Australia and Japan

and in an increasing manner the European

Union including Germany because as the

German government and the EU signed gas

LG deals with Qatar in part to

substitute the gas we no longer

purchasing from Russia so any trouble in

the straight of pus is of course a major

immed concern for Energy prices on the

globe however this is also a loose loose

proposition for the Iranians because

their tankers also need to leave the

straight for or for moose and the US has

enough military Assets in the Persian

golf to make sure if other ships can't

leave or enter definitely Iranian

tankers also won't leave or enter the

street so this is hopefully a escalation

stage that the Iranians are not

contemplating and take and whatever the

Israel are doing

and I'm curious if you could tell us

what kind of diplomatic efforts we've

seen from Israel's allies in Europe

including Germany to try to deescalate

the situation

here well in the runup to this uh the

American Administration really put out

pulled out all the stops uh they were

very clearly communicating I remind you

President Biden said simply don't that

the Iranians shouldn't attack Israel

they asked China turkey um Germany the

UK European States as well as Arab

states to talk to the Iranians to tell

them not to do this um none of this came

to fruition now of course there is going

to be the G7 meeting later today there's

the security council meeting China has

already warned against escalation it is

certainly not in the interest of Russia

to see its newly found Ally in the

Ukraine war Iran significantly weakened

so there is significantly forces that

can tone down the

side um it all really depends on what

the Israeli decide decides now the

Iranians are in a very uncomfortable

position you always can decide to start

an escalation you rarely are the one who

is deciding when to stop it well thank

you so much for joining us today with

your insights that is Hans yakob

Schindler from the counter extremism

project we appreciate your

time thank you so much for having me