Middle East crisis: Blinken calls for calm as Iran official says no plan for immediate retaliation to reported Israeli missile strike – as it happened

Foreign ministers from the G7 major powers said they would continue to work to prevent the conflict between Israel and Iran escalating, after reports of an Israeli attack on Iran, reports Reuters.

“In light of reports of strikes on 19 April, we urge all parties to work to prevent further escalation. The G7 will continue to work to this end,” said a statement issued by the ministers on Friday at the end of a three-day summit on the island of Capri.

The UK’s former ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that diplomats across the region, as well as the US and UK, “will all be looking to find ways to play it down now” after US officials said that Israel had carried out airstrikes against Iran.

“We don’t know how much of an escalation this is for now. Clearly Iran is starting to signal that it is not necessarily a major escalation. They are playing it down. And of course Israel could have chosen to do something more dramatic,” he said.

Fletcher also told the BBC that Israel is “clearly saying” to Iran that it can “dial it up”. “The danger in all of this of course is that there is risk of miscalculation,” he added.

Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir came under severe criticism for harming Israel’s strategy against Iran after he suggested Israel was behind Friday’s attack on Iran, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Iran’s state media reported that there were explosions in the central province of Isfahan, while a section of US media quoting US officials reported Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran.

However, the source of the blasts has not yet been confirmed. An Iranian official, on condition of anonymity, earlier told Reuters: “The 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.”

When contacted by AFP, neither the Israeli military nor the government offered comments on the blasts.

Ben Gvir, a member of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, on Friday wrote a one word post on X that reportedly means “feeble” in Hebrew slang, suggesting that Israel was behind the blasts but its action was weak, reports AFP.

His comment swiftly sparked reactions on social media and television channels.

“Never before a minister has done such a heavy damage to the country’s security, its image, and its international status,” opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X. “In an unforgivable tweet of one word, Ben Gvir managed to sneer and shame Israel from Tehran to Washington.”

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, an academic and host of a podcast on geopolitics, said that Ben Gvir “confirms the Israeli operation and ridicules it”.

“By doing so he undermines Israel’s power of deterrence. An absolute disgrace for a minister,” he wrote on X.

However, Tally Gotliv, lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party cheered the developments in Iran.

“A morning of pride,” she wrote on X. “Israel is a strong and powerful country,” added Gotliv, who is also a member of Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs and security committee.

Islamic State group fighters on Thursday killed 28 Syrian soldiers and affiliated pro-government forces in two attacks on government-held areas of the war-torn country, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports citing a war monitor.

In one attack, “22 regular army soldiers and fighters from pro-government forces were killed when IS jihadists opened fire on a military bus in eastern Homs province”, said the Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

Most of those killed were members of the al-Quds Brigade, a group comprising Palestinian fighters that has received support from Damascus ally Moscow in recent years, according to the Britain-based monitor.

Separately, “six Syrian soldiers died in another IS attack against a base near Albu Kamal,” in eastern Syria, the monitor reported.

State media has yet to report on the attacks, say AFP.

19 Apr 202404.59 EDT

Martin Belam

The UK’s prime minister, giving a press conference in London, has been asked about Israel’s reported attack on Iran. Rishi Sunak said:

It is a developing situation and it wouldn’t be right for me to speculate until the facts become clearer, and we’re working to confirm the details together with allies.

We have condemned Iran’s reckless and dangerous barrage of missiles against Israel on Saturday, and Israel absolutely has the right to self-defence.

But as I said to prime minister Netanyahu when I spoke to him last week, and more generally, significant escalation is not in anyone’s interest. What we want to see is calm heads prevail across the region.”

Egypt says it is deeply concerned about the continued mutual escalation between Israel and Iran, report Reuters.

In a statement issued on Friday, Egypt warned of the consequences of expanding conflict and instability in the region.

The reported Israeli drone strike on Isfahan may signal that this widening conflict has become more dynamic, writes Peter Beaumont.

In an analysis piece for the Guardian, Beaumont says that Iran and Israel are “playing with fire as old rules of confrontation are torn up”.

You can read the full analysis here:

China said on Friday that it will “continue to play a constructive role to de-escalate” tensions in the Middle East, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“China opposes any actions that further escalate tensions and will continue to play a constructive role to de-escalate the situation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.

The US has repeatedly made public appeals for China to use its influence over Tehran to manage tensions in the region.

Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi held talks with his Iranian counterpart this week, with state media reporting that Tehran had said it was “willing to exercise restraint” after its first-ever attack on Israel’s territory.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called on Iran, Israel and their allies to refrain from escalation in the Middle East, after sources said Israel carried out an attack on Iranian soil on Friday, reports Reuters.

“It is absolutely necessary that the region remains stable and that all sides restrain from further action,” von der Leyen said alongside Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo in Lappeenranta, Finland, about 25 km (15 miles) from the Russian border.

Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defence unit in its south and causing material damage, Syria’s state-run Sana news agency quoted a military statement as saying on Friday.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the warplanes were seen around the time loud noises and drones were reported near a major Iranian airbase and nuclear site early on Friday.

That area of Syria is directly west of Isfahan, about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away, and east of Israel.

Iran fired air defence batteries early on Friday and some flights were diverted or grounded after reports of explosions near a major airbase and nuclear site where drones were spotted, say AP.