The Iranian press, for its part, points out that explosions were recorded in the city of Isfahan, which is home to nuclear power plants, but no damage was reported. The episode comes days after Iran’s attack on Israel.
(DW) Israel launched an attack on Iran on Thursday night (April 18), according to US press reports. According to members of the US government, quoted by US media, the Israelis launched at least one missile against Iran and there were reports of drones, but Iranian officials avoided talking about an external attack and downplayed the episode.
Iranian media outlets, on the other hand, reported explosions in Isfahan, a city in the central region of the country that is home to military bases and nuclear power plants.
According to the Iranian press, the country’s air defenses also downed at least three drones, but no significant damage was reported in the country. In several cities in the country, such as Tehran, daily life continued as normal on Friday, with no sign of a large-scale attack.
State broadcaster IRIB played down the reports, pointing out that Isfahan is “safe and secure”. Another Iranian agency confirmed the defense measures taken at the Isfahan base, which houses American F-14 fighter jets acquired before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that it had so far observed no damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, confirming Iranian reports.
Images released by the Iranian media also showed anti-aircraft guns on standby near a uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, where three small Chinese-made reactors are located. The site is used to produce fuel for Iran’s civilian nuclear program. The city is also home to an underground uranium enrichment site that has been the target of sabotage attempts by Israel.
The Israeli government has not officially confirmed the action. A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the American newspaper the Washington Post that the action was intended to show the Iranians that the Israelis have the capacity to launch an attack inside Iran. The New York Times also said it had heard from two Israeli officials who confirmed the attack.
US officials anonymously told Reuters that the country was not involved in the attack, but that it had been notified by Israel of the action.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, following the Israeli attack, that there are currently no plans for immediate retaliation and played down reports of the attack. “The foreign origin of the incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any external attack, and the discussion looks more like an infiltration than an attack,” the Iranian official said.
The action marks a new escalation in tensions between the two countries and comes six days after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. Last Saturday (April 13), the Tehran regime launched around 300 airstrikes against Israeli soil, including drones and missiles. Israel said it managed to shoot down 99% of the weapons with its anti-aircraft systems and the help of allies in the region. No significant damage was recorded and Iran signaled even before the drones reached their targets that the action would be limited.
Iran, for its part, said that Saturday’s attack was a response to a bombing of its diplomatic compound in Damascus earlier this month, which the regime blamed on Israel.
International leaders call for caution
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that it was essential to “do everything possible for the two sides to avoid aggravating tensions in the region”. “It is absolutely necessary that the region remains stable and that the two sides refrain from future actions.”
Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, urged caution on both sides and said he would discuss the issue with his counterparts at the summit of the G7 countries, which is being held in the Italian city of Capri. “We are closely monitoring the situation,” said Canadian minister Melanie Joly, who was also present at the meeting.
The government of Oman, a country that has mediated tensions between Iran and the West for many years, condemned the “Israeli attacks” and criticized the “repeated Israeli aggressions in the region”.
Egypt, which alongside Qatar is brokering peace talks between Israel and the extremist group Hamas amid the war in the Gaza Strip, expressed concern about a possible escalation in hostilities between Tehran and Tel Aviv and warned against a possible expansion of the conflict in the region.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he hoped that calm would prevail in the Middle East. “A significant escalation is in nobody’s interest,” he said.
Germany’s Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, called on Middle Eastern countries to work to ensure that there is no further escalation in the region, but avoided commenting further on the case.
“I don’t know and I don’t want to say more about it than something that, for us, is a clear principle that must apply to everyone: everyone must ensure now and in the near future that there is no further escalation in the war.” He said Berlin would talk to “friends and allies” about the issue.
G7 signals new sanctions on Iran
The United States reportedly informed G7 foreign ministers on Friday that Washington had received “breaking news” about an Israeli drone strike in Iran. The information was released by Minister Tajani. The Italian said that the American notification meant that the agenda for the meeting on Friday morning had to be changed so that the ministers could deal with the issue.
Tajani, however, stressed that “there was no information shared by the US about the attack. It was simple information.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however, said on Friday that his country was not involved in the military action and would not confirm that it had been informed in advance about the attack.
“I’m not going to talk about it, except that the US was not involved in any offensive operation.”
The G7 foreign ministers released a joint note reiterating their support for Israel’s security and condemning “in the strongest terms” what they described as an “unprecedented [Iranian] attack against Israel on April 13 and 14, defeated by Israel with the help of its partners”.
“We stand ready to adopt new sanctions or other measures at this time and in response to future destabilizing initiatives,” the statement said.
rc/jps (ots) *** TbDCPFYIt ***