IRAN’s air defences have brought down three small drones over the central city of Isfahan, state media reported, hours after United States broadcasters, quoting senior US officials, said Israeli missiles had hit an Iranian site.
Iranian state television reported explosions in Isfahan as air defences were activated and flights across several areas, including the capital, Tehran, and Isfahan, were suspended.
Airspace was reopened about four and a half hours after the incident and there were no reports of casualties.
Second Brigadier General Siavash Mihandoust, the top military official in Isfahan, told state media that air defence batteries hit “a suspicious object” and there was no damage.
ABC News and CBS News had reported earlier that Israel had carried out a military operation in Iran.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers that it had been “informed at the last minute” by Israel about an attack on Iran.
“But there was no sharing of the attack by the US. It was a mere information,” Tajani told reporters in Capri, Italy, where the G7 ministers met.
However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to confirm reports about the Israeli attack, during a news conference in Capri.
“I’m not going to speak to that, except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operation,” Blinken said.
The top US diplomat said 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.
