Iran\u2019s foreign minister on Friday said Tehran was investigating an overnight attack on Iran, adding that so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the strike.
\nIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re \u2026 more like toys that our children play with, not drones,\u201d Amirabdollahian said.
\n\u201cIt has not been proved to us that there is a connection between these and Israel,\u201d he said, adding that Iran was investigating the matter but that media reports were not accurate, according to Tehran\u2019s information.
\nIranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from air defenses hitting three drones over Isfahan in central Iran in the early hours of Friday. They referred to the incident as an attack by \u201cinfiltrators\u201d, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
\nAmirabdollahian warned that if Israel retaliated and acted against the interests of Iran, Tehran\u2019s next response would be immediate and at maximum level.
\n\u201cBut if not, then we are done. We are concluded,\u201d he said.
\nThe attack appeared to target an Iranian Air Force base near the city of Isfahan, deep inside the country, but without striking any strategic sites or causing major damage.
\nIsrael has said nothing about the incident. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had not been involved in any offensive operations, while the White House said it had no comment.
\nCALIBRATED RETALIATION
\nIsrael had said it would retaliate after a strike on April 13, the first ever direct attack on Israel by Iran, which caused no deaths after Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of missiles and drones.
\nTehran launched those attacks in response to a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1 that destroyed a building in Iran\u2019s embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.
\nAllies including the U.S. had pressed all week to ensure any further retaliation would be calibrated not to provoke more escalation, and Western countries tightened sanctions on Iran to mollify Israel.
\nThere was no word from Israel on Friday as to whether further action might be planned. Apart from direct strikes on Iranian territory, it has other ways of attacking, including cyber attacks and strikes on Iranian proxies elsewhere.
\nViolence between Israel and Iranian proxies across the Middle East has intensified throughout six months of bloodshed in Gaza, raising fears the longstanding foes\u2019 shadow war could spiral into a direct conflict.
\nIsrael\u2019s assault on Gaza began after Hamas Islamists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel\u2019s military offensive has killed 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Gazan health ministry.
\nAs night fell on Friday, Israeli planes and tanks pounded several areas across the Gaza Strip, with air strikes hitting areas of Rafah where over half of Gaza\u2019s 2.3 million people are sheltering, according to residents, Hamas media and officials at the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
\nOne strike hit two apartments in a residential building in the city, killing nine people, including four children, and wounding several others, health officials said.
\nAir strikes also destroyed at least five houses in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, residents and Hamas media said.
\n\u201cThey (Israeli security) phoned some residents and ordered them to evacuate their houses before planes bombed some buildings nearby,\u201d Abu Omar, a resident of Al-Nuseirat, told Reuters via a chat app.
\n\u201cSoon as we ran away explosions shook the ground,\u201d he added.
\nIsrael\u2019s government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
\n(Reuters)Drone attack. Iran, attack, investigation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran’s foreign minister downplayed an overnight attack on Iran, stating that there was no proven link to Israel. The attack involved drones that were downed after flying only a few hundred meters. Iranian media described the incident as an attack by “infiltrators” rather than by Israel. The attack targeted an Iranian Air Force base near Isfahan but did not cause major damage. Israel had previously said it would retaliate after a strike on April 13, but as of now, there has been no word on further action. The ongoing violence between Israel and Iranian proxies has raised fears of escalation into a direct conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,3258,2382,6105,1943,383,1234,4453,4039,924,5292,279,6432,2458,2464,3502,6398,5476,1232,2172,6331,1392,145,5326,895,415,298,210,2581,6389,5373,1419,146,299,4695,2952,69,3504,2470,3331,3095,5330,462,837,2871,6085,6349,331,5321,827,6928,729,3269,5979,618,114,327,544,380,134,293,3435,457,165,18],"class_list":["post-8942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-air","tag-air-strikes","tag-apartments","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-blinken","tag-building","tag-buildings","tag-children","tag-comment","tag-conflict","tag-connection","tag-damage","tag-deaths","tag-direct-attack","tag-drone-attack","tag-drones","tag-embassy","tag-escalation","tag-foreign-minister","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-health-ministry","tag-gaza-strip","tag-government","tag-hamas","tag-health","tag-health-ministry","tag-interests","tag-investigating","tag-investigation","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israeli-airstrike","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-missiles","tag-news","tag-offensive-operations","tag-officers","tag-palestinians","tag-rafah","tag-request","tag-residential-building","tag-retaliation","tag-sanctions","tag-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken","tag-security","tag-six","tag-strike","tag-strikes","tag-tehran","tag-top","tag-top-news","tag-toys","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-violence","tag-war","tag-western-countries","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n