Signals no retaliation
\nIran\u2019s state television says nuclear facilities unharmed, airspace opens after brief closure
\nTEHRAN
\nExplosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday in what sources described as a suspected Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation\u2013a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.
\nThe limited scale of the attack and Iran\u2019s muted response both appeared to signal a successful effort by diplomats who have been working round the clock to avert all-out war since an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday.
\nIranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from Iran\u2019s air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan. Notably, they referred to the incident as an attack by \u201cinfiltrators\u201d, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
\nAn Iranian official told Reuters there were no plans to respond against Israel for the incident. \u201cThe foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack,\u201d the official said.
\nIsrael said nothing about the incident. It had said for days it was planning to retaliate against Iran for Saturday\u2019s strikes, the first-ever direct attack on Israel by Iran
\nCountries around the world called on Friday for both sides to avert further escalation. China said that it will \u201ccontinue to play a constructive role to de-escalate\u201d tensions in the Middle East.
\n\u201cChina opposes any actions that further escalate tensions and will continue to play a constructive role to de-escalate the situation,\u201d foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
\n\u201cIt is absolutely necessary that the region remains stable and that all sides restrain from further action,\u201d EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said. Similar calls came from from Arab states in the region.
\nIsrael had previously warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel almost a week ago, in retaliation for a deadly strike \u2014 which Tehran blamed on its foe \u2014 that levelled Iran\u2019s consular annex at its embassy in Syria.
\nFears of a major regional spillover from the Gaza war have since soared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Signals no retaliation Iran\u2019s state television says nuclear facilities unharmed, airspace opens after brief closure TEHRAN Explosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday in what sources described as a suspected Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation\u2013a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-401320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n