A file photo of Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran’s foreign minister on April 19 said Tehran was investigating an overnight attack on Iran, adding that so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the strike.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed.

Also read: Iran’s president makes no mention of explosions

“They’re … more like toys that our children play with, not drones,” Mr. Amirabdollahian said. “It has not been proved to us that there is a connection between these and Israel,” he said, adding that Iran was investigating the matter but that media reports were not accurate, according to Tehran’s information.

Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from air defences hitting three drones over Isfahan in central Iran in the early hours of April 19. They referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators”, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.

Mr. Amirabdollahian warned that if Israel retaliated and acted against the interests of Iran, Tehran’s next response would be immediate and at the maximum level. “But if not, then we are done. We are concluded,” he said.

The attack appeared to target an Iranian Air Force base near the city of Isfahan, deep inside the country, but without striking any strategic sites or causing major damage.

Israel has said nothing about the incident. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had not been involved in any offensive operations, while the White House said it had no comment.

Escalation of conflict

Israel had said it would retaliate after a strike on April 13, the first-ever direct attack on Israel by Iran, which caused no deaths after Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of missiles and drones.

Tehran launched those attacks in response to an Israeli airstrike on April 1 that destroyed a building in Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.

Allies including the U.S. had pressed all week to ensure any further retaliation would be calibrated not to provoke more escalation, and Western countries tightened sanctions on Iran to mollify Israel.

There was no word from Israel on April 19 as to whether further action might be planned.

Apart from direct strikes on Iranian territory, it has other ways of attacking, including cyber-attacks and strikes on Iranian proxies elsewhere.

Tesnions rise in Middle East

Violence between Israel and Iranian proxies across the Middle East has intensified throughout six months of bloodshed in Gaza, raising fears the longstanding foes’ shadow war could spiral into a direct conflict.

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Hamas Islamists attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military offensive has killed 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Gazan health ministry.

Israeli air strikes pound Gaza

As night fell on April 19, Israeli planes and tanks pounded several areas across the Gaza Strip, with air strikes hitting areas of Rafah where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering, according to residents, Hamas media and officials at the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

One strike hit two apartments in a residential building in the city, killing nine people, including four children, and wounding several others, health officials said.

Air strikes also destroyed at least five houses in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, residents and Hamas media said.

“They (Israeli security) phoned some residents and ordered them to evacuate their houses before planes bombed some buildings nearby,” Abu Omar, a resident of Al-Nuseirat, told Reuters via a chat app “Soon as we ran away explosions shook the ground,” he added.

Israel’s government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

French authorities on Friday detained a man after receiving an alert from the Iranian consulate in Paris that someone had entered carrying an explosive, the capital’s police authority said.

“The man has exited the consulate and is being” interrogated by police, it said.

A security source earlier told AFP that the mission called in law enforcement after a witness saw “a man enter carrying a grenade or an explosive belt”.

An AFP journalist said the whole neighbourhood around the consulate in the capital’s 16th district had been closed off and a heavy police presence was in place.

Paris transport company RATP on X, formerly Twitter, said traffic had been suspended on two metro lines that transit through stops close to the building.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dubai:

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a phone call with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to discuss the latest, dangerous developments in the region and their repercussions on the regional and international peace and security.

During the call, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed emphasised the importance of exercising the utmost self-restraint and working to prevent the expansion of the circle of tension in the Middle East, pointing out that diplomacy and dialogue are the only way to resolve differences and ensure the security of the region and the safety of its people.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed also stressed that peace, prosperity and development are what the countries of the region should enjoy and deserve.

In addition, the two top diplomats discussed bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them in a way that serves the common interests of the two neighbouring countries and the region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tehran:

Explosions rocked Iran’s central Isfahan province on Friday, according to state media, while US officials told American news outlets that Israel carried out a retaliatory strike on the Islamic republic.

The attack comes less than a week after Tehran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles in its first-ever direct assault on Israel’s soil. That unprecedented onslaught was itself a reprisal for an earlier strike in Syria widely blamed on Israel.

The escalating tit-for-tat between the arch-rivals has prompted global powers to urge caution and appeal on both sides to not allow frictions underlying the war in Gaza to unfurl into a wider conflict across the Middle East.

Here is what we know so far about the reported strike inside Iran:

What was hit?

Early Friday, Iran’s Fars news agency said “three explosions” were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the northwest of Isfahan province.

Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said several drones had been shot down and there had been “no missile attack for now”.

An unnamed US official told CNN the target of the Israeli strike inside Iran was not nuclear.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the “nuclear facilities in Isfahan province are completely secure”.

Citing informed sources, Tasnim also denied Iran had been attacked from abroad.

Blasts were also reported in southern Syria, according to a local activist group.

How did Iran respond?

Air defence systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported.

Flights to the cities of Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz were suspended, as were airports across several parts of the country, according to the Mehr news agency.

Flight-tracking software showed commercial flights avoiding western Iran, including Isfahan, and skirting Tehran to the north and east.

One flydubai plane that had already departed for Tehran had to return to Dubai after the Iranian capital’s airport was closed, the Emirati airline said in a statement.

On Friday morning, Iranian television carried a live feed of normal road traffic at a roundabout in Isfahan, while the official IRNA news agency said “no major damage” was reported after the explosions.

Why now?

Iran-backed armed groups across the region have carried out attacks on Israel since the war in Gaza broke out in October.

Both Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas are backed by Iran.

But the recent, and direct Israel-Iran exchanges have ventured into unprecedented territory.

In response to a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 widely blamed on Israel, Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at its arch-foe.

Israel had vowed to respond to that onslaught launched on Saturday, which was mostly intercepted and caused no deaths.

Just hours before the explosions were heard inside Iran on Friday, the foreign minister warned that Israel would come to “regret” any attack on his country.

Speaking at the UN Security Council during a meeting on the Middle East on Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called the Islamic republic’s weekend barrage a “legitimate defence” and said Israel should “stop any further military adventurism”.

What has been the reaction?

Israel’s military told AFP on Friday that “we don’t have a comment at this time” when asked about reports of explosions and strikes in Iran and Syria.

There was no immediate comment from the White House or Pentagon.

Several US media outlets reported that Washington had received advanced notice of Israel’s strikes, but had not endorsed the operation or played any part in its execution.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israel launched more deadly strikes on besieged Gaza on Thursday as Western governments unveiled sweeping sanctions against Iran’s military drone programme in response to the country’s unprecedented attack on its arch-enemy Israel.

World powers have been watching nervously since Israel vowed to retaliate against Iran for the weekend assault, with fears soaring that escalating tit-for-tat attacks could push the region towards wider war.

Further stoking tensions, Iran warned on Thursday that if Israel struck Iranian atomic sites during its expected retaliation, Tehran would in turn target Israeli “nuclear facilities”.

And more than six months into the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, the Israeli army said it had bombed dozens of targets in the territory, as Qatar said efforts to broker a truce have stalled.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy Hamas over its October 7 attack that started the war, has stressed that Israel “reserves the right to protect itself” against Iran.

The Islamic Republic last weekend carried out its first-ever attack to directly target its regional foe but Israel, backed by its allies, intercepted most of the 300 missiles and drones and suffered no deaths.

Iran’s attack was retaliation for an April 1 air strike, widely blamed on Israel, which levelled its consulate in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards.

‘Middle East on a precipice’ 

The international community has urged de-escalation since Iran’s attack, which came after months of violence involving Israel and Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

“The Middle East is on a precipice,” UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday. 

“One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable — a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,” he told the UN Security Council.

The United States, Israel’s top ally and military supplier, has made clear it won’t join any Israeli attack on Iran, instead unveiling new sanctions on Thursday against the country’s military drone programme.

“We are holding Iran accountable,” US President Joe Biden said, adding that he had discussed ramping up economic pressure on Tehran with other leaders at a G7 meeting in Capri, Italy.

The US sanctions target 16 people and two entities involved in producing the drones used in Iran’s attack, as well as companies providing parts to the country’s steel industry. 

Washington added that the United Kingdom would impose sanctions on Iran’s drone and missile programme, which was also the target of promised sanctions announced by the European Union on Wednesday.

Israel has yet to reveal how or when it will carry out its promised retaliation against Iran.

US broadcaster ABC News, citing three unnamed Israeli sources, reported that Israel had “prepared for and then aborted retaliatory strikes against Iran on at least two nights this past week”.

Among the range of possible responses considered by Israel were an attack on Iranian proxies in the region or a cyberattack, the sources told ABC.

A high-ranking Iranian general warned Israel against attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.

If this did happen, then “the nuclear facilities of the regime will be targeted and operated upon with advanced weaponry,” said Ahmad Haghtalab, the head of Iran’s Nuclear Protection and Security Corps.

However, Tehran has also sought to calm tensions through indirect diplomatic channels with its other major adversary, the United States.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in New York for a UN meeting, said Iran had “tried to tell the United States clearly” that it is “not looking for the expansion of tension in the region”.

Focus turns away from Gaza  

Israel has faced growing global opposition to the relentless war that has reduced vast areas of Gaza to rubble, while its 2.4 million people have suffered under an Israeli siege that has blocked most water, food, medicines and other vital supplies.

Guterres said Israel’s offensive had created a “humanitarian hellscape” for civilians trapped in Gaza. He said that Israel had made “limited progress” on allowing more aid into the territory, calling for more to be done.

Yet Iran’s attack on Israel “is succeeding in taking the focus, particularly the media spotlight, off of the Gaza famine and the Gaza war,” Roxane Farmanfarmaian, a Middle East and North Africa specialist at Cambridge University, told AFP.

The war started after Hamas launched their unprecedented attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,970 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

UN Security Council vote 

Gaza’s civil defence said Thursday it had recovered 11 more bodies in the southern city of Khan Yunis during the night.

Also bombed by Israel was the far-southern city of Rafah, where Gaza rescue teams recovered the corpses of eight family members, including five children and two women, from a single house, the civil defence service said.

A separate strike hit Rafah overnight, killing at least 10 people, relatives and neighbours told AFP as they searched for the remains of victims.

“All of a sudden, a missile hit them,” said neighbour Abdeljabbar al-Arja, who spoke of finding the arms and feet of women and children.

“This is horrifying, it’s not normal,” he said. “The entire world is complicit.”

Talks toward a ceasefire have stalled, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, despite months of effort also involving US and Egyptian mediators.

Qatar is undertaking “a complete re-evaluation of its role” as mediator because the country had been targeted by “point-scoring” by politicians, he said.

The UN Security Council was expected to vote soon on the Palestinians’ bid to become a full member state of the United Nations.

However, the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to such a move.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinian Territories:

Palestinian group Hamas said Wednesday that Iran’s weekend attack on Israel was a “legitimate and deserved” response to a strike on the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Syria.

In its first reaction to the Iranian aerial attack, Hamas said it was a “legitimate and deserved response to the Zionist entity’s… targeting of the Iranian consulate building in Damascus” on April 1.

“The response from the Islamic Republic of Iran confirms that the time when the Zionist entity (Israeli) could act as it wanted without accountability or punishment has ended,” Hamas added in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his office.
| Photo Credit: PTI

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called on his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to exercise restraint and let “calm heads” prevail in the wake of Iran’s missile attacks as his Foreign Secretary David Cameron landed in Tel Aviv for talks on Wednesday.

In a phone call, Mr. Sunak reiterated the U.K.’s “steadfast support” for regional stability and told the Israeli leader that Iran had miscalculated its move, being isolated on the global stage as a result.

Mr. Netanyahu is said to have thanked Britain for its “rapid and robust” support in the face of Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israel on Saturday.

“The Prime Minister [Sunak] said Iran had badly miscalculated and was increasingly isolated on the global stage, with the G7 coordinating a diplomatic response,” Downing Street said in a readout of the call on Tuesday evening.

“He stressed that significant escalation was in no one’s interest and would only deepen insecurity in the Middle East. This was a moment for calm heads to prevail,” the statement said.

On the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, Mr. Sunak told Mr. Netanyahu that he remained gravely concerned about the deepening humanitarian crisis.

“The U.K. wanted to see a massive step change in aid access to flood Gaza with vital supplies, including Israel opening up new aid routes as quickly as possible. The Prime Minister said it was deeply disappointing that Hamas blocked a deal at the weekend that would have saved Palestinian lives and secured the safe release of hostages,” Downing Street added.

The call will form the backdrop for Mr. Cameron’s discussions in Israel, where he is expected to meet Mr. Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials and attempt to talk the country out of retaliating to Iran’s assault.

The visit will include meetings in the occupied West Bank, after which Mr. Cameron will travel to a gathering of Group of Seven (G7) ministers in Italy to discuss further sanctions on Iran.

The U.K. has condemned Iran’s “reckless and dangerous escalation” in the region and called on all sides to show restraint after Tehran’s “barrage of 300 missiles and drones” targeted Israel over the weekend.

India has called for an “immediate de-escalation” of hostilities between Iran and Israel and called for a “return to the path of diplomacy”. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has held phone calls with his counterparts in Iran and Israel, following which Indian officials are expected to be allowed access to its crew on a ship with Israeli links seized by Iranian troops.