Israeli missile hits Iran, US officials say | BBC News

there are fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict after explosions were heard in Iran two US officials have confirmed to our broadcast partner CBS news that it was an attack from Israel State television in Iran has reported big explosions near an army base and airport in the Central City of Isfahan activating local air defense systems blasts have also been reported in the country's Northwest video online shows Iranian defense missiles being fired into the air commercial flights were were diverted around Iranian airspace but Iranian media say all restrictions have now been lifted the international atomic energy agency has confirmed that there is no damage to Iran's nuclear facilities Raphael Mariano gry director general of the agency said on social media he continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a Target in military conflicts Iran's semi-official tasnim news agency which is close to the Islamic revolution guard Corp posted a video with a caption saying is if is for hands nuclear site is completely safe a man near the Isfahan nuclear Technology Center is seen in a video that we will show you very shortly and in this video that's com in from the semiofficial tazim news agency you can see there a man holding a watch the camera which indicates the time and date we can then see several troops standing around what looks like an air defense battery explosions have also been reported in southern Syria apparently from missiles targeting radar sites explosions to in Iraq in the capital Baghdad and babil Province to the South Israel has promised to respond to Iran's drawing missile attack on Saturday night both NBC and CNN have reported unnamed officials saying that Israel warned Washington but that Washington did not endorse the action the US has restricted travel for its Embassy staff in Israel out of an abundance of caution the US Embassy issued this statement the security environment remains complex and can change quickly depending on the political situ situation and recent events well for more on this I'm now joined by Majid AFA senior reporter with BBC Persian thank you for joining us just bring us up to date on the information we're getting from Iran but also other countries who are watching developments on the ground um what we're getting from Iranian media is quite limited because at the moment there there there seems to be an effort from by the Iranian media to downplay the incident we were as you said we had reports of explosions loud explosions in the city of esfahan we now know that the the explosions were heard from a an area called kja Varan which is east of the city of eswan where one of the main air bases uh missile defense systems of Iran is located very close to the international airport in Sahan um and there were also reports of explosions in the city of tabis in the north west of the country where another uh air defense system is based and now at the moment we are hearing from the governor of uh aaban uh East aaban Province that uh they they they there were a number of drones there and they tried to down them there so um we are now getting conf information that explosions were had also near another Air Base in the city of um tab um as as you said the the nuclear facilities seem to be safe um but but the the situation is quite changing every every minute as we getting reports there are um video footage there there's footage on social media showing um fire inside a and and an air base in in Isfahan but we cannot confirm it at the moment my colleagues at BBC pan are trying to to to validate that to see if this is today or not but all we're getting is the air defense system was activated in the city of esphahan and now in the city of tabis to down a number of drones just tell us about the reaction from Iranian officials because so far the assessment is that they're trying to downplay what has happened we've heard from uh some officials saying that no damage has been done and it was just a few drones that were in Disguise over Isfahan exactly um the the question is uh Iranian side when they attacked Israel on on Saturday night and over the weekend they they have they had tried to say this was a successful attack and that's what you see in the Iranian media landscape that that's what they did if they managed to downplay what happened today then the seems to be this seems to be an effort to somehow convince their Hardline supporters inside the country that um nothing has happened there's no need for a response because the Iranian side has always been saying that if there is an air sight they they will reply to that there there will be a Counterattack now the main question here is what is this an attack from outside the country or are are these drones just U took off from from inside the country the Iranian side is definitely trying to restore deterrence as the Israelis are trying to do and if they manage to downplay this incident maybe they can restore that maybe they can achieve the goal of restoring uh deterant inside the country what do you think Iran would want to achieve because obviously there calls for an end to the tit forat strikes that we've seen um over the past few weeks what would be let's call it a win a way to get out of this situation for Iran it's already um at least from what we see from the Iranian official statements a win for Iran even if they don't reply to this Jerusalem Post minutes ago published a a a report citing an Israeli official that there was an air strike and this was a message to the Iranian side that if they want they can they can strike inside Iran Iranian officials if they manag to to say that there was no damage nothing has happened no harm has been done maybe they can they can see this as as a win at the same time getting the message and and stop this tit fortat um attacks as you said the Iranian side obviously does not want to to to to escalate this because they know that if if it comes to a military direct military conflict they're not in in any way um comparable to what uh Israel Israelis are capable of doing Iranian air defense system is also quite weak and um and and also um we know that is really air air um like fighter jets and stuff they can do damage to the Iranian side and there is precedence of um like Israeli um clandestine operations inside Iran thank you very much Majid for that update and Analysis that's Majid AFA from the BBC Persian service we joining me now on the line is Adnan tabat Iran analyst and CEO of capro Kao a think tank focusing on Iran and the Middle East in Germany thank you for joining us on the program first of all what's your assessment of the reports that we've been getting over the past few hours in my in my view what we are currently seeing is as your colleague has um very well elaborated on um that the Iranian side is trying to portray this as something really um minimal as something that basically lays to rest the whole the whole tit fortat situation and that this was basically nothing um and we will obviously have to wait uh for more accurate information to come out about what exactly happened but at this stage I think it's important to just acknowledge the fact that um there seems to be no will to escalate this further there appears to be no will to escalate this further there would be also considerations within um Iran hardliners within the government there who want perhaps tougher action against Israel do you think if Iran was to not carry out another strike and was to say well the strike wasn't that bad that would be enough to please the hardliners I believe so I think that the the overall appetite to to launch another attack um in spite of what was said publicly I think the TI has not been um that big um so it's actually I believe right now also to the benefit of officials in Iran to be able to downplay what happened or to really just say that what happened is not significant enough for us to to retaliate at this stage what's your assessment of how we got here because both sides have been clear that they do not want a wider war in the region they do not want to escalate tensions but we found oursel in these positions well we've seen these you know large strikes or strikes um over the past few weeks yeah indeed I think the the the dangerous situation here is the constant pushing of of red lines um they Iran has always acted in a way that was plausibly deniable it went through its aligned groups in the region um but that red line was obviously crossed on on Sunday um the Israelis by attacking an Iranian Consular building in Damascus and killing irgc um commanders was another form of Crossing red lines so that that is the dangerous situation we're seeing but when these red lines are pushed we may also be able to move within a range of of actions which means that there will no no further escalation be on the horizon one word that has been spoken often has been deterrence so both countries wanting to deter the other from attacking them the one to feel secure in what perhaps can be you know quite a dangerous neighborhood how would International Partners go about making Israel and Iran feel secure that they won't be attacked and you're pointing to a very very relevant issue here and that is um the the the face saving deterrence game that is necessary on on both sides and I really believe third parties have a role to play here and what I miss particularly from European countries is to really effectively call for restraint and try to give both sides a sense of you have in restored your deterrence um we can see that you can do each other serious harm um and now please for the sake of of peace and no further escalation call for restraint on both sides we I haven't seen that in a way that that I would have hoped from particularly European countries and let's see whether today's event or last night's event uh changed that thank you very much that's Adnan tabai CEO of carpo we can now speak to our Middle East correspondent yoland n and yoland were getting reaction International reaction to this attack these explosions in Iran country still trying to figure out what happened what are we hearing from Israeli officials so the Israeli military has not had any comment on whether this was an Israeli offensive in side Iran um but the Israeli media is clearly presenting it as such and you've also got the US media quoting unnamed Israeli and US officials saying that this was um an Israeli strike on Iran that took place now the information that's kind of coming out is mainly from Iran where of course there is not a a free press you have had um overnight uh these reports first from the the semi-official fast news agency where it talked about three explosions being heard in Isfahan right in the center of the country um close to a key airport close to an important uh military base um then the the state TV was saying in Iran that um these were Ground explosions that took place there had been air defense systems that have been activated um in response to drones which you can apparently see in some footage uh that is circulating on social media and uh really trying very much on on the Iranian side to downplay what happened here we're not hearing anything about uh significant damage at all um that said in Israel this morning I mean of course this has been a very tense week as everyone waited to see um how the country would respond um it was really made clear that the country felt it had to respond to that unprecedented attack by Iran last weekend with more than 300 attack drones and missiles being launched at the country um this is a country is about to have uh the Jewish Passover holiday many schools have broken up people have been preparing to travel there's been this kind of continuing state of uncertainty and it's telling this morning uh that the Israeli military has not uh updated its advice it said there's no change in instructions to the Israeli public um about the state of alert that the country is now on uh suggesting it is not bracing itself for retaliation from Iran the Reuters news agency interestingly quoting an unnamed uh senior Iranian official who they say says that no retaliation is planned um and presenting this as more of a case of infiltration rather than an attack on Iran and yoland we're just seeing reports um from the from Iranian media this is on the BBC live page and an Iranian official is quoted as saying Iran has no plan for immediate action soorry this was a comment to the Reuters news agency so falling in line with comments that we we've been seeing that Iran also has no appetite to escalate the tensions there in the Middle East um just talk us through what's likely to happen over the next few days obviously at the moment the focus is on what's happening between Iran and um Israel but also eyes are focused on what's happening in Gaza indeed and I think there's uh so much happening uh diplomatically behind the scenes at the moment to try to calm things down we have seen this morning also these uh reports um of uh an attack by Israel in Syria according to the UK based Syrian Observatory for human rights on on a Syrian Army base we've also had rocket Sirens um going off warning of a potential incoming fire in the North of Israel where there has been this increase in recent days in uh cross B fire uh between Israeli forces and hez balah the powerful uh iran-backed Lebanese group um so really a lot of fears that um Iran's proxies could also uh get involved in retaliation and attacks even if we don't have that coming from Iran directly thank you very much uh that's the BBC's your land now there with analysis and reaction from Jerusalem well G7 foreign ministers are meeting in Italy these are live pictures from that meeting in Capri they've been reacting to the news we can actually go live live now to our correspondent Jess Parker who's in Capri for us so we've been getting reaction from ministers there just talk us through what they've been saying yeah good morning to you in the last hour or so hearing from some of those foreign ministers who as you say are here in Capri for the G7 foreign ministers meeting they had discussed the situation in the Middle East yesterday and then moved on to other issues including the war in Ukraine but it now seems as though the Middle East very much back on the agenda just to bring you some of that reaction first of all Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tani who's chairing proceedings here he has said on the social media platform X I have just spoken with our ambassador to Iran I'm following developments following the nighttime explosions in Isfahan we will talk about it with the foreign ministers at the G7 session in Capri uh this morning he goes on to say there are no critical issues uh for Italians living in Iran and then Canada's foreign minister Melanie Jolie says she's been briefed by global Affairs Canada officials about the overnight explosions again monitoring the situation closely and reiterating that the situation will be addressed uh at the session of the G7 foreign ministers uh this morning so that's the reaction that we have so far we are expecting to hear from other foreign ministers later on today as this G7 uh foreign ministers meeting is due to wrap up so we should expect reactions here on the Italian island of Capri throughout the day and over the past uh couple of days Jess we've seen some countries there meeting in uh Capri putting sanctions further sanctions on Iran following its uh strike on Israel do we expect any other announcements um during this meeting I haven't had any indications that we'll get further announcements of that kind so what happened uh following Saturday attacked by Iran which of course was in itself a response to a strike on an Iranian Embassy in or Consulate in Syria um following that there were some very uh Advanced broadcast messages that there would be further sanctions and yesterday we heard from the US and the UK who said they'd come up with a coordinated package to sanction individuals and Industry bodies linked to Iran's missile and drone program the European Union as well well during a summit in Brussels said they would be looking uh at further restrictive measures going forward against Iran as well this just adds to sanctions that are already applied to tan so the UK for example said that it had sanctioned 13 individuals and entities adding to 400 existing sanctions already in place but I think they were trying to do a couple of things send a message to Iran in response to what had happened on Saturday also as part of this effort to try and deescalate tensions in the region we've heard this message from Western leaders to Israel to try and show restraint or even not retaliate at all and I think it was part of that effort to sell uh to Israel this message of take the win as President Biden uh put it following the events of the last week of course we're still getting a very emerging picture this morning in terms of what is actually uh happened in Iran but uh it will very much be up for discussion here H at the closing session of G7 foreign ministers today and Jess briefly just talk us through some of the other issues that have been discussed there in Capri yeah I mean the other main item on the agenda has been the war in Ukraine so Demitri CBA Ukraine's foreign minister has been here on the island of Capri again asking for further assistance particularly air defense systems missiles Yen stoltenberg the Secretary General of the NATO military Alliance is here as well um we were at a press conference with him yesterday and he was saying there is an urgent critical need for more air defense uh systems to go to Ukraine as soon as possible really at the moment it's not quite clear where those air defense systems might come from Germany recently uh pledged an additional battery uh to Ukraine Yen stoltenberg said conversations were ongoing but with partner countries about whether there could be a further assistance uh there is some hope uh because the US Aid package that has been so long stalled in Congress worth $60 billion uh for Ukraine uh Congress is moving towards a vote on that so that caused a little bit of optimism here but actually overall officials that I've been speaking to say the mood on this issue has been quite downbeat

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Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024