@faab64

The news has been using the word "retaliate" as deliberate weasel-word use.
There's an old adage about if you find yourself in a court, tthen the prosecution or defence may accuse you of "retaliating" if someone attacks you.
The boring reason is that if you "retaliate" then you are seen as being just as violent as the person who attacked you.

It's all wordplay and semantic games.

The BBC has switched from saying "retaliation" on Saturday to now saying "Iran's response" which is acceptably neutral legal terminology.