Latest news from the Middle East: Two Iranian soldiers ‘killed in Israeli attack’; Starmer warns Tehran not to react

Any Iranian response to an Israeli attack is unlikely to involve targeting more missiles at Israeli territory and could instead go through Iranian proxies in the region, the analyst said.

Robert Clark, a fellow at the Yorktown Institute and director of the defense and security unit at Civitas, told Sky News “there are still ways for Iran to respond that do not cross the threshold of conflict or escalation.”

“I think there will almost certainly be a reaction from Iran, but more often than not we might see it through their extensive use of proxies,” he said.

Iran has built a network of proxies across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Clark said Tehran was “unlikely to send more ballistic and cruise missiles toward Tel Aviv and then directly to Jerusalem.”

“It’s not certain at all. “But I think the scale of the damage that we’re seeing… actually allows the Iranian regime to provide a much more limited response.”