Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday thanked the country's armed forces for their attack this month on Israel, saying the country had demonstrated its power regardless of how many targets were hit, Reuters reported.
In its first ever direct attack on Israel, Iran sent a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones on April 13. Most of the missiles and drones were shot down by Israel and its allies.
"How many missiles were launched and how many of them hit their target is not the primary question, what really matters is that Iran demonstrated its power during that operation," Khamenei said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
"In the recent operation, the armed forces managed to minimize costs and maximize gains," the Supreme Leader added, urging military officials to "ceaselessly pursue military innovation and learn the enemy's tactics".
Khamenei made no mention of the explosions which were heard over the Iranian city of Isfahan early on Friday morning, in what sources said was an Israeli attack.
An Israeli official told The Washington Post on Friday that the strike on Iran "was intended to signal to Iran that Israel had the ability to strike inside the country."
Later, a senior US official told ABC News that three missiles were fired from Israeli fighter aircraft outside of Iran in the limited strike.