An Israeli official who confirmed the strike on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters said it was just intended to send a message to Iran that Israel has the ability to hit targets inside the country.
A person familiar with official discussions about the attack, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss it publicly, said the strike was “carefully calibrated.”
Tensions have been soaring for weeks following Israel’s deadly strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, raising fears of a wider conflict. Late Saturday, Tehran then launched its first direct attack on Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones — nearly all of which were neutralized. Friday’s limited response by Israel appeared to many experts to be part of attempts by both sides to de-escalate the situation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Iran, which has increasingly close ties with Moscow, had reached out to defuse the situation.
“There were telephone contacts between the leadership of Russia and Iran, our representatives and Israelis. We very clearly registered that in these conversations — and conveyed to the Israelis — that Iran does not want an escalation,” the minister said.
Iranian state media said only that air defense systems intercepted “three small drones” in Isfahan province. The area is home to sensitive facilities — an Iranian military base and key nuclear labs — but the attack appeared to be only a pinprick, given Israel’s long-range military capabilities.
With Israel tight-lipped after the attack and Iran downplaying its significance, the two sides appear to be hoping the exchanges so far may be enough to satisfy domestic audiences without requiring further retaliation.
“When you consider some of the options, which have been discussed, such as an attack on the Iranian nuclear program, or even some kind of special forces assault, it doesn’t seem to me like this is actually a major escalation,” said Charles Miller, a security expert at Australian National University. “It seems that actually both sides want to be seen to be doing something without actually undertaking the risks of doing anything that’s too provocative.”
Tehran’s attack last weekend did not cause any substantial casualties, possibly allowing Israel to opt for such a pinprick attack. Saturday’s Iranian attack came with a lot of advance warning and was probably designed to look spectacular while keeping death and destruction to a minimum, analysts said.
“The Israeli strike and Iran’s initial response suggests that both sides can claim some measure of satisfaction without taking it further: The former shows it is undeterred by the weekend attack and has capacity to retaliate directly; the latter by minimizing its impact, said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project and senior adviser at the Crisis Group.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear program, said Friday that none of the Iranian nuclear sites were damaged.
Israel also apparently kept the United States in the loop during the attack. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters that Israel provided advance notice to Washington about the strike. “The United States were informed the last minute, but there was no involvement on the part of the United States,” he said at a Group of Seven meeting on the island of Capri.
Tajani said the apparent small size of the attack was “the result of the efforts of the G-7.”
Israel had signaled that it would respond militarily to Iran’s launch of attack drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, but it has been under pressure from the Biden administration and other allies to show restraint to avoid provoking a wider regional conflict.
Israel’s war cabinet reviewed a list of target options provided by the Israel Defense Forces. The body was seeking to craft an action plan that would deter Iran without causing significant casualties or damage so extensive that Tehran would be forced to answer with another round of attacks, according to an Israeli official familiar with the deliberations.
Israeli military and government officials have declined to comment publicly on the attack. Details of the incident remained vague, and Israeli officials said privately that no official comment was likely in the coming hours, if at all. The military did not warn civilians to seek shelter Friday or to take extraordinary precautions as the country prepares for the Passover holiday.
Iran, too, was muted in its comments. Stations broadcast serene images of the central Iranian city beneath headlines reading “the situation is normal.”
“Iran has gone out of its way to downplay this attack and, whatever details might later emerge about it,” said Arash Azizi, senior lecturer in political science and history at Clemson University. “It appears that both sides have now entered a new equilibrium, not so different from the old one and that the immediate threat of escalation has been lifted.”
Isfahan, a province in central Iran, is the site of the largest nuclear research complex in Iran, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative; it is also the site of a military base and the Isfahan airport, Iranian media reported.
Iran suspended flights from a number of airports shortly after reports of explosions, according to Iranian state media. The news reports did not explain the cancellations, but airspace in the region was similarly closed last weekend when Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Israel.
By 6 a.m. local time, the skies above western Iran were largely empty, flight tracker website Flightradar24 showed. Some flights appeared to sharply divert while over Iran, including FlyDubai flights from Istanbul and Zagreb to Dubai. Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization lifted the restrictions by 10 a.m. and cleared scheduled flights to resume, state media said.
Syria’s state news agency reported early Friday that Israel launched an attack overnight with missiles targeting air defense sites in the country’s southern region. It did not provide details about the location and said the attack caused some damage.
Hawkish Israelis had been calling for a harsh military answer to Iran’s Saturday attack on Israeli soil, even though Israeli, U.S. and Jordanian forces intercepted more than 99 percent of the weapons that were launched successfully. A 7-year-old Israeli girl from a Bedouin family who was injured by falling debris in the south was the only casualty.
It was unclear Friday whether the apparently limited action over Iran would satisfy those demands.
Israeli officials followed a gag order in the hours after the attack on Iran, but Tally Gotliv, a far-right firebrand from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, posted an apparent reference to the strike on social media: “Good morning, people of Israel. This is a morning in which the head is held high with pride. Israel is a strong and powerful country. May we regain the power of deterrence.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who had called on Israel to go “crazy” on Iran in response, posted a one-word comment on X that translates as “weak.”
Harris reported from Washington, George from Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and Vinall from Seoul. John Hudson in Capri, Italy, Nilo Tabrizy in New York, Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong in Seoul and Shira Rubin in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
