Ex-CIA chief warns not to underestimate Iran’s response after Operation Epic Fury exposed regime ‘arrogance’

Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday the U.S.-led campaign that killed Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei capitalized on the regime's "stunning arrogance" while warning that Tehran still has "retaliatory capabilities" as it seeks to maintain unity under new leadership.

Petraeus called the operation "an extraordinary military achievement by the Israelis and the Americans" on "Sunday Morning Futures."

"Clearly, a lot of this was led by intelligence, precise intelligence, and a degree of stunning arrogance on the part of the Iranians," he said, noting that Iran’s top leadership appeared confident enough to meet together, making them vulnerable to being targeted simultaneously.

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He also said it would be "foolish" for the Iranians to retaliate with attacks on U.S. interests in neighboring countries, saying those nations had preferred to stay out of the conflict but now risk being drawn in.

"Their aircraft are already flying as part of the overall defensive effort. And we'll see if there is a decision about [America] using their bases again, which they had initially denied because they had wanted to stay on the sidelines," Petraeus said.

The U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Saturday morning, a joint military campaign that officials say targeted Iranian leadership and key military installations. Iran’s state media confirmed that Khamenei was killed in the strikes, along with several senior officials.

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The military operation is expected to carry on for days. Officials tell Fox News that Israel is focusing on Iranian leadership targets, while the United States is targeting military sites and ballistic missile infrastructure it says pose an "imminent threat."

Amid the ongoing fight, Petraeus noted that an interim Iranian leadership council is "very deeply underground" and their intentions are presently unclear.

"Iran still clearly has quite a capability," he warned. 

"And keep in mind that it's not just the longer-range missiles that can hit Israel… when you come to the shorter-range missiles, there's quite a large number of those as well."

The former CIA chief questioned whether a new leader could emerge who would appeal to the Iranian people, unite disaffected elements of the regime and stand against hardliners — and whether any such figure would embrace President Donald Trump’s call for Iranians to challenge their government in exchange for immunity.

"So the real question is, could there be an alternative to this very hardline ideological clerical regime? Could some other leader step up, and [could] the people and those disaffected elements of the regime rally to that individual? And I'm not sure that that is quite the base case," he said.

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.