TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that the Israeli attack on his country should neither be exaggerated nor downplayed.
While addressing people in the capital Tehran following the Israeli strike early Saturday against military targets in Iran, Khamenei said Israel "made a mistake" by attacking Iranian targets.
"They (Israelis) are, of course, exaggerating it (the attack). Their exaggeration is wrong, but we should know that it is also wrong to play it down. It is also wrong that we say it was nothing and failed to be important," he was quoted as saying in a statement published on his website.
Khamenei said the Israelis "are making miscalculations about Iranian people," failing to "accurately understand the Iranian people's power, capability, innovation and determination. We should make them understand these."
Having national power was the sole way to make Iran secure, Khamenei said.
"We should be powerful in all economic, scientific, defense, political, managerial, and other areas and become more powerful on a daily basis," he said.
Meanwhile, Khamenei condemned Israel's "brutal war crimes" in Gaza, and governments and international organizations that failed to counter Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, calling on all governments, especially the Muslim ones, to stand against Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said early Saturday that it launched "precise and targeted" airstrikes on military targets in Iran in response to the attacks from Iran in recent months.
Iran's air defense headquarters said it had successfully countered the Israeli attack, which inflicted "limited damage."
On Oct. 1, Iran fired approximately 180 missiles at Israeli targets. Tehran described the strikes as retaliation for the assassinations of several leaders of regional resistance groups, among other things. ■
