Iran says its unprecedented attack against Israel was in response to an Israeli attack on its consulate building in Damascus two weeks ago.

But what happened then?

• On April 1, an air raid struck Iran’s embassy compound in the Syrian capital.
• The attack killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals and five military advisers.
• Iran blamed Israel, which has been regularly attacking Iranian positions in Syria.
• Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the consulate attack.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that the overnight attack termed Operation True Promise was for the punishment of “the Zionist entity’s crime of targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria”.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement expressing the Gulf state’s “deep concern” about the regional developments and called on all parties to halt escalation, promote calm and exercise maximum restraint.

It also urged the international community to take immediate action to defuse tension and de-escalate the situation in the region.

It’s safe to say that the Iranians are now waiting to see how the Israelis will respond.

Based on what we’ve seen and heard from ordinary Iranians over the past few hours, first there is a sense of relief that Iran has finally managed to stand up to Israel after four decades of this shadow war that has continued between the two sides. This is the first time Iran has taken a direct response to Israel, standing up to what Iran calls Israeli aggression.

People here are certainly happy about the fact that Iran made a decision to react but there is also a sense of worry about what Israel will do next.

Many people believe that while Iran was within its rights to retaliate and that the response was proportionate to what took place in Damascus on April 1, there is a sense that Israel and especially Netanyahu is looking for any excuse to attack Iran. He has said over the past 20 years that Iran is one of the biggest threats for Israel and that one way of eradicating this threat is by attacking the Iranian nuclear sites.

The ordinary Iranians are basically waiting to see what will happen; life continues here as regular, nothing has been closed and there have been no warnings issued by the government.

We did see lines at gas stations late last night at the start of the operation and we also saw people gathering outside the British embassy and in Palestine Square in Tehran to show their support for the decision that’s been made by the leadership in the country.

We also understand that all domestic flights have been halted in the country until 02:30 GMT on Monday.