Iran’s mullahs’ regime said on Saturday it was forced to “defend itself” after an Israeli airstrike on military targets across the country. Israel’s attack was in retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile barrage on the Jewish state earlier this month.

“Iran has the right and duty to defend itself against foreign acts of aggression,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency provided a terse statement reporting that two soldiers were killed in the strikes.

Iranian officials who spoke with The New York Times said on condition of anonymity that the sites targeted included the S-300 air defenses of Imam Khomeini International Airport outside Tehran.

Israel, for its part, warned Iran not to respond.

“Should the regime in Iran make the mistake of starting another round of escalation, we will be forced to respond,” IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said after the four-hour operation was completed.