Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has instructed his forces to prepare a direct attack against Israel after deeming the Jewish nation’s retaliatory strike last week too big to ignore, according to a new report.

While Khamenei attempted to downplay to the public the extent of Israel’s attack on Tehran’s military facilities, privately, he greenlit plans for a counterattack in a meeting with his Supreme National Security Council, three Iranian officials told The New York Times.

The ayatollah allegedly made his decision on Monday after reviewing the damage report from his military officials, which detailed the strikes across Tehran’s missile production plants and defense systems.

Khamenei told his generals that the attack, which also killed four Iranian soldiers, could not go unanswered, saying a lack of response would mean admitting defeat to Israel, the three officials said.

“Iran’s response to the Zionist aggression is definite,” said Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps deputy commander, according to Iranian media.

“We have never left an aggression unanswered in 40 years. We are capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one operation,” he added.

Israel carried out a four-hour operation last Friday consisting of 100 jets, spy planes and refueling aircraft to conduct its largest-ever strike on Iran, bombing military facilities tied to the Islamic Republic’s own ballistic missile barrages against the Jewish state.

The tit-for-tat cycle has raised fears that an all-out war is inevitable in the Middle East between Israel and Iran and its terror proxies.

The attacks so far have targeted military facilities, but Iran has previously warned that it would do anything to ensure the safety of its people.

Despite the warning, the three officials told the Times that Iran’s response would stick to dozens of military targets inside Israel.

A repeated exchange of fire, however, may not benefit Tehran given that Israel has bolstered its defenses since the last attack on Oct. 1, including the delivery of an American Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.  

Iran, however, is poised to suffer greater damage after Israel’s strike last week destroyed several of its missile defense systems, a warning to Tehran not to retaliate.

“The boastful talk by the Iranian regime’s heads cannot conceal and compensate for the fact that Israel now has greater freedom to operate in Iran than ever before,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the attack on Thursday.