Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials have said that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but US officials have said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage.
Most of the drones from Iran’s attack were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation.
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Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has said that Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel’s ally the US 72 hours’ notice it would launch the strikes.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had spoken to both Washington and Tehran before the attack.
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“Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this. We were aware of the possibilities. The developments were not a surprise,” said a Turkish diplomatic source.
But a senior official in Joe Biden’s administration denied Mr Amirabdollahian’s statement, saying Washington did have contact with Iran through Swiss intermediaries but did not get notice 72 hours in advance.
“That is absolutely not true,” the official said.Â
“They did not give a notification, nor did they give any sense of these will be the targets, so evacuate them.”
Tehran sent the US a message only after the strikes began and the intent was to be “highly destructive” said the official, adding that Iran’s claim of a widespread warning may be an attempt to compensate for the lack of any major damage from the attack.
Photo Credit: Getty
