Update: April 19, 2024 12:42 PM
- Iran says its air defence systems shot down three drones in Isfahan province early in the morning. There were no reports of damages, but an investigation is under way to determine where the drones were launched from and who was behind the attack, officials said.
- Israeli officials have not commented, but the reports came after Israel threatened to attack Iran following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on April 13. Meanwhile, unnamed US officials told media outlets that Israel had launched an attack on Iran.
- Iranian officials have sought to downplay the attack, with a senior official saying there was no plan for retaliation.
- There were also reports that mini-drones were flown by “infiltrators from inside”.
- While countries around the world called for de-escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to comment on the reported Israeli attack, only saying after the conclusion of Group of Seven (G7) talks in Italy that the United States “has not been involved in any offensive operation”.
- Even so, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the G7 foreign ministers that it received “last minute” information about the attack on Iran.
Attacks by Iran and Israel set ‘precedent’
This month’s escalation between Israel and Iran has set an important precedent, according to Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst.
“In these past weeks, a threshold has been crossed: For the first time in 45 years, Iran and Israel exchanged direct attacks on their sovereign territory – this is new,” Bishara said.
“That has set a precedent that we can no longer overlook, and we can no longer say ‘This is not going to be repeated’. There is a very good possibility, especially because it did not deteriorate too far.”
<… [truncated for model]