Iranian officials say they don’t have a plan to retaliate – and that’s not surprising.
I think it was very clear from the very beginning that this was going to be a limited exchange, just as we’ve seen between Israel and Hezbollah.
So there’s a certain that there is hostility, that there is an exchange of hostilities, but that it will always be somehow contained.
Iran is not interested in a direct confrontation with Israel because conventional war between Iran and Israel – backed by the US and other Western power – is not to Iran’s advantage.
Iran has preferred for the past 40-plus years to engage in asymmetrical, indirect, proxy wars with Israel rather than direct conflicts.
What is clear is that Israel hit, but it was not the kind of hit that is meant to cause civilian damage or to humiliate Iran but to satisfy Israeli military ambition without angering the US.
Meanwhile in Gaza, death toll rises to 34,012
We’re taking a quick break from the live coverage on the rising tensions between Israel and Iran to bring you the latest from Gaza, where the death toll in more than six months of Israeli attacks has now topped 34,000.
According to the latest figures by the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 42 people were killed and 63 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
These figures bring the overall number of people killed since October 7 to 34,012, with 76,833 wounded.
From Germany and Russia to Japan and Egypt, countries around the world have called for “de-escalation” following the suspected Israeli attack in Iran.
Turkish, Iranian foreign ministers discuss regional developments: Report
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have spoken over the phone to discuss the recent developments in the region following the reported explosions in Isfahan, according to Anadolu news agency.
Anadolu quoted sources as saying that the phone call was made at the request of the Iranian side, without sharing further information.
Afifeh Abedi, an Iran analyst, said that it is likely that Ankara “has become a channel” for exchanging messages between Iran and the US.
“It seems that this call was made to convey Tehran’s message to Washington after the events in Isfahan,” she wrote on X.
Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it is “closely” monitoring the recent developments in the region, and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could lead to a wider conflict.
“In light of the latest developments, it is becoming increasingly evident that the tensions that were initially caused by Israel’s illegal attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus risk turning into a permanent conflict,” a ministry statement said.
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.”
And because the attacks have been contained, “we could probably see more in the future”, Bishara said.
Here’s what’s happened today
We’ll be closing this live page soon. But before that, let’s have a quick recap of the day’s events:
- 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.
