In a surprising turn of events, Tehran has played down the suspected Israeli attack that occurred on Friday. The Iranian city echoed with explosions, which sources have described as an Israeli attack. However, Tehran has indicated that it has no plans for retaliation. This response appears to be gauged towards averting a region-wide war.
The Incident
The limited scale of the attack and Iran’s muted response both appeared to signal a successful effort by diplomats who have been working round the clock to avert all-out war since an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday.
Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from Iran’s air defenses hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan.
The Response
Notably, they referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators,” rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation. An Iranian official told Reuters there were no plans to respond against Israel for the incident. “The foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack,” the official was quoted as saying.
The Tension
This incident comes in the wake of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel. An airstrike on a military base in Syria last month, which Iran and Russia blamed on Israel, killed seven Iranians. In February, Israel shot down an Iranian drone that entered its airspace, triggering a clash in which an Israeli warplane crashed after being struck by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.
The International Perspective
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States is focused on de-escalating the tension between Israel and Iran. Western leaders have urged restraint, with President Joe Biden warning his Israeli counterpart against carrying out new strikes on Iran and making it clear that Washington would not join in any such counterattack.
The situation remains tense and the world watches closely as the events unfold. The hope is for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, avoiding any further escalation that could lead to a region-wide war.
But according to international media, there is hitherto no concrete evidence linking Israel to the attack. ‘’The Israeli military has stated that there is no concrete evidence of Iranian involvement in the attack,’’ reported the media.
Similarly, U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed uncertainty about Iran’s involvement in the attack. They have stated that while Iran has a long history of supporting Hamas, there is no direct evidence of Iranian involvement in this particular attack. Therefore, it remains unclear whether Israel was definitively involved in the attack.
