Under normal circumstances, the response to the provocation had to be almost immediate retaliation.

If this could be accomplished, it would allow the Tersae to act without fear of immediate retaliation.

The strategy is also provocable because it provides immediate retaliation for those who compete.

An immediate retaliation is forestalled by the second phase of the Japanese offensive: an economic attack.

But officials specifically ruled out the possibility of immediate retaliation on Japan's part.

Now, an immediate retaliation with real weaponry is imminent.

And steel prices have stabilized recently, weakening the case for an immediate retaliation.

The evidence compiled by a range of researchers using these techniques also suggests that immediate military retaliation does not reduce terrorism over time.

Meanwhile, the United States has agreed not to move to immediate retaliation.

For 40 years it has been the nation's unveering practice to launch immediate and lethal retaliations after any attack.