Israel has said its war cabinet is weighing its options and “will not sit idly by” after Iran launched its largest-ever attack on the Middle Eastern country, Israel has said.

Iran launched a series of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli military targets, sending sirens blaring across Israel and activating the country’s sophisticated defence systems.

“What happened last night was an unprecedented response and as I said today in the Security Council it will be a very strong, painful response. It will be soon,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night, October 3.

“I think they know that we have the capabilities to reach any destination in the Middle East and it’s up to us to decide how to do it and what to target.”

Asked whether Israel will listen to US President Joe Biden’s message that Iran’s nuclear site should not be targeted in Israel’s upcoming response, Danon said: “It should be the responsibility of the US and other Western democracies to block Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities, otherwise it will be too late.”

Danon said Israel doesn’t want to see escalation or war but insisted it will retaliate against Iran’s large-scale rocket launches.

“But we would have to make it a calculated response because we don’t want to see full war with Iran. And believe me, they also don’t want to see it. We have shown our capabilities when we fought Hamas in Gaza, and we are fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. They better look at what happened in Beirut and in Gaza before they start a war with us.”