Britain and the United States Deny Iran Gave Warnings Before Attacking Israel

Iran drone launch. (Source: IRNA)

JAKARTA - Britain and the United States deny they received notification from Iran regarding plans to attack Israel, in contrast to Turkey, Jordan and Iraq who said they received notification several days before the attack.

"I would reject that characterization," PM Sunak's spokesman told reporters, as reported by Reuters, April 15.

"And more broadly, we strongly condemn their direct attacks on Israel," he stressed.

Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday. The attack was said to be in response to Israel's attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria on April 1, killing a number of IRGC officials, including two senior generals.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighboring countries and Israel's ally, the United States, 72 hours' notice if they would launch an attack.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had spoken to Washington and Tehran before the attack, adding it had conveyed messages as an intermediary to ensure the reaction was proportionate.

"Iran said this reaction was a response to Israel's attack on its embassy in Damascus and would be nothing more than that. We are aware of the possibility. This development is not surprising," said a Turkish diplomatic source.

Meanwhile, a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration denied Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian's statement, saying Washington did make contact with Iran through Swiss intermediaries, but did not receive 72 hours' advance notice.

"That is absolutely not true," the official said.

"They did not give notice, nor did they give the impression 'this will be a target, so evacuate them,'" he said.

Tehran sent a message to Washington only after the attack began, the aim of which was to be "extremely destructive", the official said, adding Iran's claim of widespread warning may have been an attempt to compensate for the lack of major damage from the attack.

"We received a message from Iran while (the attack) was going on, through Switzerland. It basically shows that they are done after this, but this attack is still continuing. So that's (their) message to us," the official said.

A source in Iran familiar with the matter said Iran had informed the US through diplomatic channels that include Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland about the day of the scheduled attack, saying it would do so in a way to avoid provoking a response.

Iraqi, Turkish and Jordanian officials each said Iran provided advance warning of the attack last week, including some details.

Two sources in Iraq, including a government security adviser and a security official, said Iran had used diplomatic channels to notify Baghdad of the attack at least three days before it occurred.

The exact time of the attack was not disclosed at the time, but it was communicated to Iraqi military and security authorities several hours before the attack, so that Baghdad could close its airspace and avoid a fatal accident.

"The government understood clearly from Iranian officials that the US military in Iraq also had prior knowledge of the attack," the Iraqi security official said.

Meanwhile, a senior Jordanian official said Iran had summoned Arab envoys in Tehran on Wednesday to inform him of their intention to carry out an attack, although he did not specify the time.

When asked whether Iran also provided details regarding the targets and types of weapons it would use, the Jordanian source did not answer directly but indicated that was the case.