"We urge both sides to de-escalate tensions," Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Mościcka-Dendys told reporters. "We stress that this unprovoked attack by Israel on Iran could lead to dangerous consequences for the region."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the strikes as a necessary measure to protect Israel from potential existential threats, saying that “the Jewish community would not be a victim of the Iranian nuclear regime”.
Earlier in the day, officials said that Polish soldiers and diplomats in the Middle East were safe amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak wrote on X that Polish intelligence services were closely monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda's return flight from his official visit to Singapore was delayed, his office said, after Israel's air strikes on Iran heightened regional tensions and caused widespread air travel disruptions across the Middle East and parts of Europe.
Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Iran early on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, and military commanders in what it called the start of a sustained operation aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, the Reuters news agency reported.
Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear program and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon, reports Reuters, citing Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W. Bush. As the expert added, “The scale of the attacks, Israel's choice of targets, and its politicians' own words suggest another, longer-term ambition: toppling the regime itself.
The strikes early on Friday hit not just Iran's nuclear facilities and missile factories but also key figures in the country's military chain of command and its atomic scientists.
In retaliation, Iran launched about 100 drones toward Israeli territory, the Israeli military said.
Iran's Fars news agency reported on Saturday, citing senior Iranian military officials, that Iranian strikes against Israel will continue.
"This confrontation will not end with last night's limited actions and Iran's strikes will continue, and this action will be harrowing and regrettable for the aggressors," Fars cited an unnamed official.
(aj)
SOURCE: IAR; REUTERS