Israel-Iran tensions updates: Calls for calm as ‘drones downed’ in Isfahan

Thank you for joining us for updates on the rising regional tensions after a suspected Israeli attack on Iran amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

We have you covered.

You can read our news story here, our global reaction piece here, and our explainer here.

And you can follow all the latest developments in Israel’s war on Gaza by reading our 24-hour live coverage here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon. But before that, let’s have a quick recap of the day’s events:

• Iran says its air defence systems shot down three drones in Isfahan province early in the morning. There were no reports of damages, but an investigation is under way to determine where the drones were launched from and who was behind the attack, officials said.
• Israeli officials have not commented, but the reports came after Israel threatened to attack Iran following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on April 13. Meanwhile, unnamed US officials told media outlets that Israel had launched an attack on Iran.
• Iranian officials have sought to downplay the attack, with a senior official saying there was no plan for retaliation.
• There were also reports that mini-drones were flown by “infiltrators from inside”.
• While countries around the world called for de-escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to comment on the reported Israeli attack, only saying after the conclusion of Group of Seven (G7) talks in Italy that the United States “has not been involved in any offensive operation”.
• Even so, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the G7 foreign ministers that it received “last minute” information about the attack on Iran.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have spoken over the phone to discuss the recent developments in the region following the reported explosions in Isfahan, according to Anadolu news agency.

Anadolu quoted sources as saying that the phone call was made at the request of the Iranian side, without sharing further information.

Afifeh Abedi, an Iran analyst, said that it is likely that Ankara “has become a channel” for exchanging messages between Iran and the US.

“It seems that this call was made to convey Tehran’s message to Washington after the events in Isfahan,” she wrote on X.

Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it is “closely” monitoring the recent developments in the region, and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could lead to a wider conflict.

“In light of the latest developments, it is becoming increasingly evident that the tensions that were initially caused by Israel’s illegal attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus risk turning into a permanent conflict,” a ministry statement said.

From Germany and Russia to Japan and Egypt, countries around the world have called for “de-escalation” following the suspected Israeli attack in Iran.

Here’s how the world has reacted.

We’re taking a quick break from the live coverage on the rising tensions between Israel and Iran to bring you the latest from Gaza, where the death toll in more than six months of Israeli attacks has now topped 34,000.

According to the latest figures by the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 42 people were killed and 63 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

These figures bring the overall number of people killed since October 7 to 34,012, with 76,833 wounded.

You can follow our coverage on Israel’s war on Gaza here.

Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned the “reckless fireworks” carried out in Iran’s city of Isfahan, urging world leaders to instead focus on “ending Israeli transgressions” in its ongoing war on Gaza.

In a statement posted on X, the former Iranian foreign minister said nothing should divert international public opinion from “Israel’s atrocities”.

“Genocide continues apace in Gaza,” said the chief Iranian negotiator of the ill-fated 2015 nuclear deal with the US and world powers.

He also criticised the US veto on the UN Security Council resolution on Palestine’s UN membership, saying it was “clearly a step in the wrong direction”.

Zarif added that the council’s failure to condemn the April 1 strike on the Iranian diplomatic premises in Syria compelled Iran to invoke its right to self-defence, referring to the April 13 attack on Israel.

An investigation is under way to determine where the drones were launched from and who was behind the attack, but according to Iranian officials nothing has been damaged.

The IAEA has also said there is no damage sustained to any of the country’s six nuclear facilities.

Things are still very tense and whether or not this is the final response by Israel is unclear.

But what is clear is that this attack has been successfully repelled by Iran and its forces for the time being. Whether or not anything else will happen in the coming hours or days remains to be seen, but for now there doesn’t seem to be any appetite here to further escalate the situation between Iran and Israel.

A Middle East analyst says Israel appears intent on “dragging the region into war”.

Watch his interview with Al Jazeera below:

In a carefully worded statement that does not mention the latest attack on Iran, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that “it is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation” in the Middle East.

“The Secretary-General condemns any act of retaliation and appeals to the international community to work together to prevent any further development that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in the statement.

News of an attack on Iran has brought attention to the central city of Isfahan, which once served as the capital of the Persian Empire during the Safavid dynasty.

In January 2023, a military factory belonging to the Iranian army in Isfahan was also attacked by multiple drones. The province of Isfahan is home to Iran’s main nuclear site, Natanz.

Here are five things to know about Isfahan:

• From 1598 to 1736, Isfahan served as the capital during the rule of the Safavid dynasty.
• Shah Abbas made it his capital and rebuilt it into one of the largest cities in the world during the 17th century, leading to the coining of the phrase, Isfahan nesf-e-jahan ast (Isfahan is half of the world) to highlight the city’s importance as a seat of power.
• The city has a population of approximately 2.2 million, making it the third-most populous city in Iran, after the modern capital, Tehran, and Mashhad, a religious centre in the country.
• Counting the greater Isfahan province’s population of four million, it is considered as the second-largest metropolitan area of modern-day Iran.
• The UNESCO World Heritage site, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, is located in Isfahan. Constructed between 1598 and 1629, it is considered one of the largest ancient squares in the world. Next to it is the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest bazaars in the Middle East.

The rising tensions in the Middle East dominated discussions as the G7 foreign ministers met in the Italian island of Capri:

• Addressing reporters after the talks ended, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to comment on the reported Israeli attack against Iran, only saying that the US “has not been involved in any offensive operation”.
• Blinken added the G7’s focus is on de-escalation. Asked to describe the current US-Israel relationship, Blinken noted that Israel makes its own decisions, but the US is committed to its security.
• His comments came after Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the G7 ministers that it received “last minute” information about the attack on Iran.
• The G7 ministers’ communique, meanwhile, warned of new sanctions against Iran for its April 13 drone and missile attack on Israel and called on both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

Antony Blinken reiterated the message of de-escalation and also said that the US has not been involved in any conflict alongside Israel, in terms of the strikes in the early hours of the morning on Iran.

He wouldn’t be drawn on whether the US had received prior warning from Israel as it’s being reported, therefore whether the G7 ministers themselves had received that warning via US channels, nor he would be drawn on the question of whether he thought that G7 pressure had helped in getting Israel to limit its strike.

The Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, though confirmed that both of those things had happened.

Kioumars Heydari, the commander-in-chief of the ground forces of the Iranian army, says Iran remains vigilant to confront any other potential aerial threats.

“If suspicious flying objects appear in the sky of the country, they will be targeted by our powerful air defence,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA ahead of Friday prayers in Tehran.

“Even though last night’s objects were suspicious, our country’s defences reacted intelligently.”

Heydari also said Iran’s April 13 attacks on Israel “showed that the Islamic republic has the upper hand in the region and can establish security without the interference of any foreign power”.

The German airline Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines said all flights to Israel are temporary suspended.

Four flights scheduled between Friday and 7am (05:00 GMT) on Saturday have been cancelled so far, a Lufthansa spokesman told dpa news agency.

The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers that it received “last minute” information about the attack on Iran, Italy’s foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Capri that the US provided the information at a morning session that was changed at the last minute to address the attack.

Tajani said the US told the G7 ministers that it had been “informed at the last minute” about the attack.

“But there was no sharing of the attack by the US. It was a mere information.”

He also said that Italians living in Iran were all accounted for and “without problems”.

Ebrahim Raisi is on a visit to Damghan, in the central province of Semnan, where he made a speech but made no mention of the attack on Isfahan.

He mostly discussed local affairs, remaining focused on the goals of provincial trips that he has been making across the country since assuming power – but he did talk about the April 13 attack on Israel.

“Operation True Promise led to authority, unity and cohesion in the country,” Raisi said. “Today, all political groups and factions believe that this response was necessary and a big honour for the country.”

Iran’s army has said the Isfahan attack is being investigated and further information will be made public later.

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian parliament from Isfahan, says the “desperate attempt” from Israel “with the help of local agents” had “failed and brought new disgrace for them”.

“Let them know that we are at peak readiness to protect our dear Iran,” he wrote on X.

Sergey Lavrov says Russia has held conversations with both the Iranian and Israeli sides.

In an interview with Russian radio stations, the foreign minister said:  “There have been telephone contacts between the leadership of Russia and Iran, our representatives and the Israelis.”

He added: “We made it very clear in these conversations, we told the Israelis that Iran does not want escalation.”

Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays says Iran appears to be downplaying the suspected Israeli attack.

Watch the video below: