No plan for immediate retaliation against Israel, senior Iranian official says
Iran has no plan for immediate retaliation against Israel, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, hours after sources said Israel launched an attack on Iranian soil.
“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,” the Iranian official said on condition of anonymity.
According to Reuters, an Iranian analyst also told state TV on Friday that mini drones shot down by air defences in Isfahan were flown by “infiltrators from inside Iran”.
Meanwhile, the Israeli hard right minister Ben Gvir has posted a one-word post on X on Friday: “Feeble!”
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.
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.”