Washington/Baghdad/Dubai:
Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said on Sunday that Iran gave widespread notice days before launching drone and missile attacks on Israel, but U.S. officials said Tehran failed to warn Washington and was aiming to inflict heavy damage.
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Syria.
Most of the drones and missiles were shot down before reaching Israeli territory, but a young girl was seriously injured and there are widespread fears of further escalation.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran had given its neighbors and Israeli allies 72 hours’ advance notice of an impending U.S. attack.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had spoken to Washington and Tehran before the attack, adding that it had acted as an intermediary to deliver messages to ensure the response was proportionate.
A Turkish diplomatic source said: “Iran said the reaction was in response to the Israeli attack on its embassy in Damascus and would not go beyond that. We were aware of the possibility. The development was not surprising. “
A senior official in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration denied Amirabdullahian’s claims, saying Washington did engage with Iran through Swiss intermediaries but was not given 72 hours’ notice.
“This is absolutely not true,” the official said. “They gave no notice, no sense… ‘These are going to be targets, so evacuate them.'”
Tehran’s intention to send a message to the United States only after the attack began was “highly destructive,” the official said, adding that Iran’s claim to have issued a broad warning may have been an attempt to cover the heavy damage caused by the attack. .
“We received information from the Iranians through Switzerland as this thing was ongoing. It basically indicated that they were done after this, but it was still an ongoing attack. So that’s what (their) gave us information,” the U.S. official said.
Iraqi, Turkish and Jordanian officials all said Iran had issued an early warning of the attack last week, including some details.
Attacks using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles have the potential to cause heavy casualties and escalate conflicts.
U.S. officials said on Friday and Saturday they expected an attack to be imminent and urged Iran to oppose it, with Biden succinctly saying his only message to Tehran was: “No.”
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Two Iraqi sources, including a government security adviser and a security official, said Iran informed Baghdad of the attack through diplomatic channels at least three days before it took place.
The exact timing of the attack was not disclosed at the time but was passed to Iraqi security and military authorities hours before it took place, allowing Baghdad to close its airspace and avoid a deadly incident.
“The government clearly understood from Iranian officials that U.S. forces in Iraq also had advance knowledge of the attack,” an Iraqi security official said.
A senior Jordanian official said Iran had summoned Arab envoys in Tehran on Wednesday to inform them of its intention to launch an attack, without specifying when.
Asked whether Iran had also provided details about targets and the types of weapons used, Jordanian sources did not respond directly but said that was the case.
An Iranian source with knowledge of the matter said Iran had informed the United States of the planned date of the attack through diplomatic channels including Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland, adding that the strike would be carried out in a manner that would avoid triggering a response.
The extent to which escalation can be avoided remains a question. The U.S. official said Biden has told Israel that the United States will not join any Israeli retaliation.
However, Israeli Minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday that Israel was still weighing its response and would “clear the price to Iran in a way and at a time that suits us.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
