Biden warns Netanyahu of retaliation. The USA is said to have known about Israel's plans. Explosions in Isfahan could worsen the situation.
Jerusalem - Early on, Israel considered a rapid response to the Iranian attack on the evening of April 13th. Explosions were reported in Iran near Isfahan on Friday night (April 19). Israel is said to have previously informed the USA of possible retaliation plans. In a conversation, US President Joe Biden advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching another attack.
"You won. Take victory,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to a White House official spoken to by US news site
Axios
. Accordingly, Biden said that the USA would not support offensive operations against Iran and that Netanyahu accepted this.
Since the Iranian attack, Israeli bombings have already been reported in southern Lebanon - and now explosions have been reported again on Iranian territory. According to media reports, the aim was to demonstrate Iran's weaker air defense compared to Israel.
Iran considers the conflict to be over and threatens to react harshly in the event of a retaliatory strike
Iran acted in what it called “Operation True Promise” in response to the Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic building on April 1, which also killed two senior Iranian generals. “The matter can be considered closed,” an Iranian embassy said in a statement on X.
“However, if the Israeli regime makes another mistake, Iran’s response will be much harsher. It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime that the US must stay out of.” The warning clearly shows that the conflict between Iran and Israel could escalate quickly.
“Our response will go far beyond today's military action if Israel takes retaliatory measures against Iran,” Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said on the day of the attack, according to
The Guardian
.
Symbolic strike as an alternative: Suspected attack by Israel on Iran
Still, retired U.S. Major General Mark MacCarley expressed his defense of the recent attack on Iran: “The Israelis had to retaliate, but that retaliation also carried a message: 'Yes, we can do it. Don't do that again. If you do it again, all hell will break loose.'” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote on
Farzan Sabet, a senior researcher at the Global Governance Center in Geneva, explained, according to
Al Jazeera
, that Israel has a possible fallback with a "largely symbolic and non-lethal or only slightly lethal response." The alleged attack near Isfahan on the night of April 19th could also be seen as such a blow because, according to Iranian news agencies, no significant damage was caused there. However, so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the Iranian side has not made any accusations.
Iranian attack underestimated – USA is said to have had information about the attack
The USA, Great Britain, Jordan and France also helped repel the Iranian attack on April 13, so that overall only a small proportion of the missiles hit a target. “We intercepted, we defended, together we will win,” Netanyahu
wrote
on
Iran is said to have used Turkey to warn other countries, including the USA, of an attack on Israel. According to
the Tagesschau
, the communications director of the US government's National Security Council, John Kirby, dismissed
rumors about possible information from the US before the Iranian attack last weekend: "The United States has not received any information from Iran or anyone else that would reveal any information specific time, specific targets or types of weapons they would fire.”
Quick retaliation? Explosions in Iran not yet certain Israel attack
Shortly after the Iranian attack, Israeli politicians called
for a swift retaliation, according to the
New York Times
. It was argued that “Iran should be allowed to believe that it has set new rules for the conflict.” Just a day ago, media reports said that the War Cabinet had postponed the decision for the time being.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the explosions reported on Friday (April 19) were actually an attack, possibly by Israel. According to the
AFP
, Iranian news agencies mainly spoke of “explosions”. According to the
AFP
, the Iranian news agency
Tasnim
reported,
citing “informed circles,” that “contrary to rumors and claims from the Israeli media,” there were “no reports of an attack from abroad on Isfahan or any other part of Iran.”
(lismah)