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