Iranian foreign minister says it will not escalate conflict and mocks Israeli weapons as ‘toys that our children play with’

Iran's foreign minister on Friday refused to acknowledge that Israel was behind the recent attack on his country and described the weapons that were used as more like children's toys.

"What happened last night was not a strike," the foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said in an interview with NBC News' Tom Llamas. "They were more like toys that our children play with – not drones."

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Amirabdollahian, who spoke to NBC News in New York where he was attending a U.N. Security Council session, said Iran was not planning to respond unless Israel launches a significant attack.

"As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions," he said.

But the foreign minister warned that if Israel did attack Iran, the response would be swift and severe.

"If Israel takes a decisive action against my country and this is proven to us," he said, "our response will be immediate and to the maximum and will cause them to regret it."

The recent cycle of violence between Israel and Iran began on April 1 when Israel bombed an Iranian consular building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing two generals and five officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran responded 12 days later, launching an unprecedented, direct military attack on Israel involving more than 300 missiles and drones. The assault caused no significant damage, however. Nearly all of the missiles and drones were intercepted by Israeli, U.S. and other