The UK air force destroyed a number of Iranian drones while resisting Tehran's retaliatory strike on "Israel," UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Sunday.

"I can confirm that our planes did shoot down a number of Iranian attack drones," Sunak stated in a video posted on X.

Iran’s attack last night was a dangerous and unnecessary escalation.

I want to pay tribute to the professionalism and bravery of the @RoyalAirForce and our allies in protecting civilians. pic.twitter.com/UEFzTBNJld

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 14, 2024

Sunak strongly denounced Iran's drone and missile retaliatory strike on "Israel," at an earlier hour in the day, alleging his nation and its partners were working to calm the situation and "prevent further escalation."

Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force announced that it targeted Israeli positions in occupied Palestine with dozens of drones and missiles, as part of the retaliatory response to the malicious Israeli crime against the Iranian embassy in Syria.

The New York Times cited two Israeli officials as saying that Iran launched 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 surface-to-surface missiles. The officials confirmed that most of the launches originated from Iranian territory, noting that a small portion were from Iraq and Yemen.

US, 'Israel' failed to stop Iran from attacking: INSS

The Executive Director of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies  Hayman Tamir, made remarks about the Iranian retaliatory strikes on "Israel", claiming that from an operational perspective everything "worked perfectly" for the occupation. However, he highlighted that strategically, "the situation is more complex." 

To add to the list of Israeli failures, "Israel" and the United States "failed to deter Iran from attacking."

Iran was also able to harm "Israel" without getting the United States involved to attack in cooperation with the occupation, Tamir said. 

He also believes that even though for the first time last night "Israel" took action as "part of a coalition", this still restricts its "freedom of action" if it responds. 

The Israeli government is confronted with a difficult dilemma, to "contain" Iran's response, or to launch another attack against the Islamic Republic and risk escalation after the IRGC directly struck its internal front for the first time, the Israeli Walla! news site said in a Sunday report.

Accoridng to the outlet, by opposing an Israeli response, US President Joe Biden "has placed the Israeli government against difficult choices."