A slew of threats are coming out of Iran against any Israeli response to the Iranian attack against the Jewish state over the weekend, amid an escalating war of words between Israel and Iran that threatens to snowball into a full-blown war in the already tense region.

An Iranian official warned Monday that Tehran would retaliate “within seconds” against any Israeli attack.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani said Israel “made a strategic mistake with its attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus”.

The strike “provided legitimacy for a serious test of the military and defence capability" of Iran, state-run media quoted him as saying.

“If the Zionist regime is rational enough, it will not repeat such a mistake because Iran will give a harder, faster and more urgent blow,” Kani was quoted by IRNA as saying.

If Israel attacks Iran, it “will no longer have 12 days, and the answer they receive will not be measured in days and hours, but in seconds”, he said.

Tehran said its missile and drone attack against Israel was in retaliation for the strike on the Iranian embassy on 1 April.

Hours earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told reporters in Tehran that while Iran is not seeking to escalate tensions in the region, “it will act more resolutely than before to deter and punish the aggressor for any illegitimate or irrational actions if Iran’s red lines are crossed.”

Earlier on Monday, Israel's Gen Herzi Halevi told soldiers at Nevatim Airbase that Iran's attack "will be met with a response".