JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel and Iran on Friday downplayed an apparent Israeli airstrike near a major air base and nuclear facility in central Iran, saying the rivals were prepared to prevent the latest round of violence from escalating. He suggested that it was done. Regional war.
But it is the culmination of weeks of tensions, including an alleged Israeli attack that killed two Iranian generals, an unprecedented Iranian missile barrage against Israel, and an apparent Israeli attack on central Iran early Friday morning. The lack of resolution did little to resolve deep grievances between the two countries. attacked the enemy and left the door open to further fighting.
“Despite the international community’s likely efforts to de-escalate tensions, we appear to be moving ever closer to a widespread regional war,” said Amos Harel, military commentator for the Israeli daily Haaretz. I wrote. .
Israel has long considered Iran its biggest enemy, citing the Islamic Republic’s calls for Israel’s destruction, its controversial nuclear program, and its support for hostile groups across the Middle East.
Tensions have been rising since the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacked Israel on October 7, kicking off more than six months of devastating Israeli offensives in the Gaza Strip. Lebanon’s Iran-backed proxy Hezbollah immediately launched attacks on Israeli targets and launched a second-front response, while Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen also bombarded Israel with missiles and missiles throughout the period. Launching a drone. war.
Israel and Iran have been waging a shadow war for years, mainly in neighboring Syria, but have largely avoided direct confrontation. The situation changed on April 1, when two Iranian generals were killed in an airstrike on Iranian diplomatic facilities in the Syrian capital Damascus. Israel did not comment, but Iran blamed Israel for the attack and vowed to retaliate.
Iran fired more than 300 missiles and attack drones late Saturday night, responding with its first-ever direct attack on Israel. Israel, cooperating with the US-led international coalition, said it intercepted 99% of the artillery fire, although a few missiles managed to land, causing minor damage to an Israeli military base and seriously injuring a girl. Announced.
In Friday’s attack, Iranian state television reported that air defense batteries in several provinces opened fire after reports of drones flying over. Iranian military commander General Abdulrahim Mousavi said the crew targeted multiple flying objects.
“This morning’s explosion over Isfahan was related to the firing of air defense systems against a suspicious object and caused no damage,” Mousavi said.
Authorities said air defense artillery opened fire on a major air base near Isfahan. The base was home to Iran’s fleet of U.S.-made F-14 Tomcats, which were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Isfahan is also home to sites linked to Iran’s nuclear program, including the underground Natanz enrichment facility, which has been repeatedly targeted for suspected Israeli sabotage. Friday’s apparent attack took place on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday.
State television said all Iranian nuclear facilities in the region were “completely safe.” The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said there was “no damage” to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iranian officials have not mentioned possible Israeli involvement. That could be intentional, especially after Iranian authorities have been threatening for days to respond with Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Israel has also not commented on the apparent attack, but one of its hardline ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir, expressed his displeasure in a tweet early Friday morning, using slang for weak and lame. hinted.
But Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a Western summit in Capri that the United States had received “last minute” information about the attack from Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not dispute this, but said: “We are not involved in any offensive operations.”
Yoel Guzansky, a former Iran expert in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, said Israel appears to have carried out the attack to send a message to Iran and “tick a box” and not take any less provocative actions that would upset the United States. He said that it seems that he did not take it. Urge restraint or else it will provoke further Iranian retaliation.
“Sending the message that we can attack inside Iran seems to be very limited,” said Guzansky, a senior fellow at the National Security Institute think tank in Tel Aviv.
He said that while the “current round” of violence appears to be over, Israel still faces threats from Iranian support on many fronts and “nothing has changed.”
“Further rounds are expected,” he said. And the next time, if Iran surprises Israel or its allies do not help Israel defend itself, “the outcome will be different.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an end to airstrikes.
“The time has come to end this dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East,” his office said.
Charles Lister, a senior fellow and longtime regional analyst at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, disputed Iran’s claims that a drone carried out the attack. Instead, a small number of Israeli aircraft appeared to fly from Israel over Syria, attacking at least two southern Syrian military bases equipped with air defense systems along the way, he said.
They then entered Iraqi airspace, from where they fired a small number of Blue Sparrow air-to-ground ballistic missiles, but likely never entered Iranian airspace, Lister said.
Accounts of explosions over Iraq support that scenario, as does debris believed to be an Israeli-made Blue Sparrow missile booster found in a field outside Baghdad by Iraqi security forces, Lister said.
“In other words, Israel would never have needed to enter Iranian airspace to carry out this attack,” Lister said. “I think this was a way for Israel to send a message that it can be reached anywhere.”
Once this round dies down, Israel could return its focus to the ongoing war in Gaza and its smoldering battle with Hezbollah. Neither front is slowing down and the risk of further conflict with Iran remains high, but neither side appears enthusiastic following Friday’s apparent attack on Israel.
“Neither side is ready to jump over the brink,” said Alex Vatanka, head of the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. But he added an important caveat.
“Perhaps we will go back to proxy wars,” he said, but now they are proxy wars that carry the risk of “sudden outbreaks of wars between states.” I didn’t have to worry about it before. ”
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press journalists Nasser Karimi, Mehdi Fatahi, and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran. Bassem Mourou of Beirut. Ellen Knickmeyer of Washington; Qasim Abdul Zahra in Baghdad. Nicole Winfield of Capri, Italy. contributed to this report.
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