Iran warned today that is “ready to defend its sovereignty” in the event of an attack by Israel, which has promised to retaliate with Iranian missile fire.

Iran “is fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any attack that targets its vital interests and security,” said Amir Said Iravani, the Islamic Republic’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

As he said, Tehran “seeks neither war nor escalation”, but will exercise “its inherent right to self-defense, in accordance with international law” and will inform the Security Council of its “legitimate response”.

However, Israel’s security cabinet that met did not come to a decision on how to respond to the missile attack of Iran after discussions on the matter, an official told CNN on Friday.

He also noted that the gaps between the US and Israeli positions were narrowing.

US President Joe Biden, for his part, said Israel’s retaliation for the missile attack should be “proportionate”.

On October 1, Iran fired some 200 missiles at Israel, an attack it said was in retaliation for the killings of the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas in Tehran, which was attributed to Israel, and the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as a high-ranking member of its Guards. Iran’s revolution in an Israeli strike near Beirut.

Israel has vowed to retaliate, with Israel’s defense minister Joab Gallant to announce on Wednesday that the attack would be “lethal, precise and surprise”.

“We don’t want war”, but “we are not afraid of it and we will be ready for any scenario”, he said from the sidehe Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, in an interview he gave to the television network Al Jazeera yesterday, Thursday.