Israel may launch an additional strike against Iran, which would include fresh targets not included in the first round of attacks, Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi said on Tuesday.

If Tehran “makes the mistake and launches another barrage of missiles at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran,” HaLevi said while touring the Ramon Air Force Base in southern Israel.

In the event of continued Iranian aggression, Israel will “reach Iran, with capabilities that we did not even use this time, and hit extremely hard both the capabilities and the places that we spared this time,” he continued.

The IDF chief acknowledged criticism that Saturday’s attack – which came after a massive ballistic missile assault on Israel launched by Iran on October 1 – had not sufficiently deterred the Islamic Republic.

The military did not launch a no-holds-barred attack on Iran because “we may be required to do it again,” he said.

“We didn’t finish this event, we are right in the middle of it,” he added.

HaLevi’s remarks come after reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet discussed plans for a potential second attack on Iran for more than six hours, though ultimately did not come to a decision on the matter.

In Saturday’s attack, Israel struck missile and drone manufacturing sites, but appeared to cave to heavy pressure from the U.S. to avoid striking Iran’s nuclear development program and oil assets.

However, cabinet members reportedly said that the attack was a response solely to Iran’s ballistic missile attack – and did not constitute a sufficient response to the drone strike on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Caesarea residence earlier in October.

Despite public threats by Iranian officials to “punish” Israel for the recent strike, Israel believes that Tehran is not gearing up for a counter-attack on Israel in the near future.

Image - Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90