International calls for restraint after attack on Iran blamed on Israel

The community international launchedé Friday calls à restraint after retaliatory attack on Iran attributed to Iran Israel, in a context of increasing escalation in the Middle East since the start of the devastating war in Israel, Gaza more than six months ago.

Before dawn, explosions were heard near a military base in the Isfahan region of central Iran. But Iranian authorities have downplayed the impact of the explosions and have not directly accused Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for them.

American media, citing American officials, claimed that it was an Israeli operation carried out in response to an unprecedented Iranian drone and missile attack against Israel on April 13. Israel has vowed to make Iran, its sworn enemy, pay the price for its attack.

A senior US Congress official who did not wish to be named confirmed to AFP an Israeli attack in Iran.

This latest outbreak of fever comes as the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by a bloody attack by Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, knows no respite and has left 34,012 dead in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Early Friday , the Iranian Fars news agency reported three explosions near a military base in Qahjavarestan, between Isfahan and its airport.

Drones were shot down but “there was no missile attack,” said the spokesperson for the Iranian space agency. There have “been, so far, no air attacks from outside the borders against Isfahan or other regions of the country”, he added.

“We have no comment at this time,” an Israeli army spokesperson told AFP about the explosions.

Isfahan in Iran © AFP – Olivia BUGAULT, Hervé BOUILLY, Jean-Michel CORNU, Janis LATVELS, John SAEKI, Omar KAMAL

According to the New York Times, citing Iranian officials, the attack was carried out by small drones, probably launched from Iranian territory.

For its part, the Washington Post, citing an Israeli official who requested anonymity, affirmed that the attack aimed to show Iran that Israel had the capacity to strike inside its territory.

– “De-escalation” –

A man walks in front of the map of Iran in central Tehran, April 15, 2024. © AFP – ATTA KENARE

Nuclear installations in the Isfahan region are “completely safe”, the Tasnim agency said following the attack.

“No damage” at nuclear sites, confirmed the International Atomic Energy Agency.

At the G7 ministerial meeting in Capri, Italy, the head of Italian diplomacy Antonio Tajani affirmed that the United States, Israel's historic allies, had “been informed at the last moment” of the attack, without specifying by whom .

The United States “was not involved in an offensive operation” declared his American counterpart Antony Blinken, present in Capri, stressing that “the objective ” of his country and the other members of the G7 was “de-escalation”.

The Joe Biden administration has been insisting for several days that it does not want “to an extended war with Iran.

In a sign of growing concern, the American Embassy in Israel has ordered its employees to limit their travel in the country. The Chinese embassy in Iran called on its nationals to take “precautions”.

– “Stop the dangerous cycle” –

“It is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was quoted as saying by his spokesperson.

A man rides a motorbike past a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service in Tehran, April 19, 2024. © AFP – –

The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov reported contacts with Iran and Israel. “We told the Israelis that Iran does not want escalation,” he said.

Several Western countries, including France, and Arab called for restraint.

For Sanam Vakil, expert at Chatham House, “Israel's counterattack against Iran (…) has been calibrated to avoid damage and further Iranian aggression.”

“As long as Iran continues to deny the attack and divert attention from it and no no other attack is noted, the two parties have for the moment the possibility of reducing the escalation”, he argued.

During the first direct attack ever carried out by Iran against Israeli territory on April 13, Israel claimed to have intercepted with its allies, mainly the United States, almost all of the approximately 350 Iranian drones and missiles.

Iran said it acted in “self-defense” after the attack which destroyed its consulate in Damascus on April 1 and cost the lives of seven of its soldiers including two high-ranking officers. Tehran accused Israel, which neither confirmed nor denied.

– No respite in Gaza –

Sur Israel's southern front, the Israeli army continued its deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip which it is besieging and where the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN.

People walk through the rubble of a collapsed building following an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, April 18, 2024, © AFP – –

She said she had destroyed “military sites and observation posts” in the center of the small territory.

In the last 24 hours, at least 42 Palestinians died in Israeli bombings, according to the Hamas health ministry.

The large-scale Israeli offensive was launched after an attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to a report from the AFP established from official Israeli data.

More than 250 people were kidnapped during the attack and 129 remain held in Gaza, of whom 34 died according to reports Israeli officials.

Children queue on April 19, 2024 to receive food in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where a war pits Israel against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas © AFP – MOHAMMED ABED

Israel has said it wants to destroy Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and Israel.

The G7 expressed its opposition to a ground offensive in Rafah (south), wanted by Israel for whom this city, where 1.5 million Palestinians are massed, is the last major bastion of Hamas.

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