Updated: Israel carries attack inside Iran – US Officials
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Al Jazeera, CNN, APIsrael has carried out a strike inside Iran, a US official tells CNN, in a move that threatens to push the region deeper into conflict.
Israel had told the US on Thursday it would be retaliating against Iran in the coming days, a senior US official said. “We didn’t endorse the response,” the official said. Israel had been weighing a response to Iran’s weekend airstrikes targeting the Jewish state, most of which were intercepted.
The attack came just hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN in an interview that if Israel takes any further military action against it would be “immediate and at a maximum level.
Meanwhile, AP News Agency reports that Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday morning as explosions could be heard near a major air base near Isfahan, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike following Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
“It remained unclear if the country was under attack, as no Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment. However, tensions have remained high in the days since the Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria”, according to AP News.
Al Jazeera said that one Iranian government official and later Iran’s state-run television broadcaster suggested sites may have been targeted by drones. Iranian media is certainly downplaying this incident.
According to state TV, three small unknown flying objects were interecepted near the the city of Isfahan just after 4am local time.
The Iranian air defence systems were able to intercept and destroy these flying object, state TV said
IRNA said the defenses fired across several provinces. It did not elaborate on what caused the batteries to fire, though people across the area reported hearing the sounds. In particular, IRNA said air defenses fired at a major air base in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan were closed until 0700 GMT, subject to extension, and flights have been cleared from the western half of Iran, slight tracking website FlightRadar24 reported.
Some flights destined for Tehran from Turkish Airlines and Emirates were returning to their origin, FlightRadar24 said on X. An Iran Air flight from Rome to Tehran was diverting to Ankara, Turkey, it showed.
FlightRadar24 showed Emirates, flydubai, Turkish Air, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Belavia were among the carriers continuing to use the part of Iran’s airspace that remained open on Friday morning.
Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry.
Iran-backed groups have declared support for Palestinians, launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
The United States on Thursday blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have recognised a Palestinian state.
Twelve members of the Security Council had voted in favor of the resolution, while two countries – the UK and Switzerland – abstained. The US vetoed it.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticized the US veto, saying in a statement that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
