Conflict between Iran and Israel reached new heights after the Jewish state launched Operation Rising Lion, an aerial attack targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure and military facilities this morning.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said some 200 fighter jets were used in the operation and confirmed that Iran's largest Uranium enrichment site in Natanz was among the targets.
Following the attacks, Iran vowed a "strong response".
"With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate, and it will definitely receive it," Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement.
Iran's response is unlikely to be of the equal or greater ferocity with which Israel has caused havoc in Iran, argued retired lieutenant colonel JS Sodhi, author of China's War Clouds: The Great Chinese Checkmate.
"This is because of two reasons. One, in over 21 months of the Israel-Hamas War... Hamas, Houthis, and Hezbollah, have been systematically weakened by Israel," he told Sputnik India.
The many nations between the two enemies pose a major challenge for Iran to mount any effective response.
Missiles, drones and cyber attacks would be their only options, another former Indian Army officer, major Manik M Jolly, told Sputnik India.
Even then, Israel's air defences could stop many of the Iranian missiles.