DUBAI\/JERUSALEM
\nExplosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday in what sources said was an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation – a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.
\nIran\u2019s foreign minister said the drones, which the sources said Israel launched against the city of Isfahan, were \u201cmini-drones\u201d and that they had caused no damage or casualties.
\nThe limited scale of the attack and Iran\u2019s muted response appeared to signal a successful effort by diplomats who have been working to avert all-out war since an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday.
\nIranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from air defences hitting three drones over Isfahan in central Iran.
\nThey referred to the incident as an attack by \u201cinfiltrators\u201d, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
\nA senior Iranian official told Reuters there were no plans to respond against Israel for the incident.
\n\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.
\nIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also cautious in comments to envoys of Muslim countries in New York.
\n\u201cThe Zionist regime\u2019s (Israel\u2019s) media supporters, in a desperate effort, tried to make victory out of their defeat, while the downed mini-drones have not caused any damage or casualties,\u201d Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
\nIsrael said nothing about the incident and its ally Washington refused to be drawn.
\nAsked about it repeatedly at a press conference in Italy, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would not comment apart from saying that the United States was committed to Israel\u2019s security but not involved in any offensive operations.
\nThe White House also said it had no comment, in a departure for an administration that routinely weighs in on the latest developments in the Israeli conflict.
\nU.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday. A Pentagon readout made no specific mention of Iran, but said the two discussed issues including \u201cefforts to maintain regional stability.\u201d
\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 had said it would retaliate after Saturday\u2019s strikes, 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.
\n\u201cIsrael tried to calibrate between the need to respond and a desire not to enter into a cycle of action and counter reaction that would just escalate endlessly,\u201d said Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI\/JERUSALEM Explosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday in what sources said was an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation – a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war. Iran\u2019s foreign minister said the drones, which the sources said Israel launched against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-401578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n