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Military
personnel
stand
guard at
a
nuclear
facility
in the
Zardanjan
area of
Isfahan,
Iran,
April
19,
2024, in
this
screengrab
taken
from
video.
WANA
(West
Asia
News
Agency)
via
REUTERS |
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Israel
and Iran
both
have
muted
response
to
Isfahan
attack
Reuters.com
JERUSALEM/DUBAI,
April 19
(Reuters)
-
Israeli
media
cited
foreign
reports
of an
Israeli
strike
on Iran
on
Friday
in the
absence
of
official
public
comment,
while
Iranian
television
reports
played
down the
attack -
many not
even
mentioning
the
"Zionist
entity",
Iran's
term for
Israel.
The
strike
in the
central
city of
Isfahan
appears
to have
caused
no
significant
damage
and the
muted
way the
story
was told
in both
nations
pointed
to a
determination,
at least
for now,
not to
further
escalate
their
conflict.
In an
interview
with
state
TV, a
resident
of
Isfahan
described
the
explosions
in the
early
hours of
the
morning
as
"nothing
more
than
fire
crackers".
The
Israeli
military
and
foreign
ministries
declined
comment
and
there
were no
immediate
public
statements
from
senior
politicians
apart
from
hardline
security
minister,
Itamar
Ben
Gvir,
who sent
out the
one word
message
"Feeble!"
on
social
media
platform
X.
Israeli
media
cited
reports
from the
New York
Times
and the
Washington
Post,
which
quoted
unnamed
Israeli
officials
as
confirming
Israel
was
behind
the
attack,
but did
not
report
official
confirmation
of their
own.
Israel
has a
long
tradition
of
maintaining
ambiguity
over
issues
like
nuclear
weapons
and
intelligence
operations
and the
silence
appeared
to be
part of
its
messaging.
Writing
for
Israel's
biggest
newspaper
Yedioth
Ahronoth,
before
the
attack
took
place, a
columnist
said an
official
had said
Israel
planned
a
"pinpoint
operation".
He
quoted a
Bible
story in
which
the
future
King
David
crept up
on a
sleeping
enemy
and cut
a piece
of cloth
from his
clothing
as proof
that he
could
have
struck a
deadly
blow but
chose
not to.
"I think
it is
ultimately
a
cautionary
message
that
Israel
can
respond
and can
get
through
to Iran
if it
wants,
but it
does not
want to
widen
the
scope of
this
conflict
right
now,"
said
Hasan
Alhasan,
a senior
Fellow
for
Middle
East
Policy
at the
International
Institute
for
Strategic
Studies.
Iran's
thoughts
were
spelt
out most
clearly
by a
senior
Iranian
official
who told
Reuters
that
Tehran
did not
plan a
response
now.
Iranian
media
appeared
to play
down the
significance
of the
strike.
In
official
statements,
there
was
almost
no
mention
that
Israel -
or as it
usually
says the
"Zionist
entity"
- was
behind
it.
State
television
carried
analysts
and
other
pundits
who all
appeared
be
dismissive
about
the
scale.
"There
has been
a
remarkable
fabrication
to
exaggerate
the
extent
of the
incident"
the
semi-official
ISNA
news
agency
said.
The
apparent
attack
was the
latest
in a
round of
actions
set off
by the
killing
of seven
Iranian
officers
in a
strike
on an
embassy
compound
in
Damascus
that has
drawn
fears of
a wider
regional
conflict
spilling
over
from the
war in
Gaza.
Although
Israel
has
never
acknowledged
that it
was
behind
the
strike
on April
1, Iran
launched
a wave
of
hundreds
of
drones
and
missiles
in
response
that was
successfully
warded
off by
the air
defences
of
Israel
and its
allies.
Iran's
reaction
also
appeared
to
signal
that it
did not
want the
exchange
to go
further.
"That
seems to
indicate
that
Iran is
seeking
to step
down off
the
ledge,
minimise
the
impact
of the
attack,
and
perhaps
walk
back
down the
escalation
ladder
from
here,"
said
Jonathan
Lord,
head of
the
Middle
East
security
program
at the
Center
for a
New
American
Security,
a U.S.
think
tank.
Iranian
President
Ebrahim
Raisi
chose
not to
cut
short
his trip
to the
central
province
of
Semnan,
indicating
that the
country
was not
on high
alert.
In
Israel,
the
Homefront
Command
issued
no new
instructions
to the
population.
Opinion
polls in
Israel
have
appeared
to show
no
overwhelming
desire
for
retaliation,
with one
poll on
Thursday
showing
48% in
favour
of
responding
even if
it meant
expanding
the
conflict
with 52%
preferring
not
responding.
"We're
good,
you can
look
around,
we're
happy
here,
not from
the
attack
but I
think
the
situation
in the
Middle
East is
complicated
but
Israel
will
always
win and
everybody
has to
know
that,"
said
Pavlo
Tzuk, a
resident
of
central
Israel.
"So,
enjoy
your day
and hope
people
in Iran
will
understand
we are
not
seeking
for war
but we
are
seeking
for
peace
and we
want to
be here
safe,
so,
understand
that,"
he said.
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