Iran has sought to play down what has been described as a missile strike by Israel as explosions echoed in an Iranian city and also indicated it had no plans to retaliate, calming fears on an all-out war, for now.
Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from Iran's air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan, Reuters said. They referred to the incident as an attack by "infiltrators" rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation, the report said.
Earlier in the day, ABC News reported cited some Iranian officials as saying explosions were heard in Isfahan.
The news of attacks came days after Iran launched a drone strike on Israel in response to an attack at the Iranian embassy in Syria.
Here’s what happened till now:
- Police detained a man at the Iranian consulate in Paris after responding to a report of a suspicious person possibly carrying a grenade and explosives vest.
- Oil prices rose $3 a barrel following reports that Israeli missiles had struck a site in Iran.
- Cryptocurrencies fell heavily and bitcoin broke below $60,000. Bitcoin slid more than 5.5% to $59,961 in the Asia session while the US dollar rose broadly.
- Commercial planes diverted from their routes over western Iran early on April 19.
- Iran had recently launched hundreds of drones and missiles in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.
-On April 18, the US and Britain announced widespread sanctions against Iran's military drone programme.
- According to reports, the Israeli military said alert sirens have been activated in northern Israel.
- Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that Israel will independently determine its course of action in response to Iran's recent air attack.
-The US and other western allies have been urging Israel to forego a military strike to avoid a regional conflict springing out of the Hamas issue.
-Iran told the United Nations Security Council that Israel "must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests" as the U.N. secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a "moment of maximum peril".
-The escalation came more than six months into Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip which killed nearly 34,000 people.
-Iran-backed groups declared support for Palestinians, launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
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