Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, has disclosed that Iran gave neighboring countries and Israel’s ally, the United States, 72 hours’ notice before launching hundreds of drones and missiles on Israel on Saturday.
The strikes are considered retaliatory after an Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on 1 April.
On Sunday, 15 April, Turkish, Jordanian, and Iraqi officials confirmed Tehran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but U.S. officials said Washington wasn’t warned and that Iran was aiming to cause significant damage.
A spokesperson for US President, Joe Biden said notification was not given 72 hours in advance.
“That is absolutely not true,” the official said.
“They did not give a notification, nor did they give any sense of … ‘these will be the targets, so evacuate them.'”
Tehran sent the United States a message only after the strikes began and the intent was to be “highly destructive” said the official, adding that Iran’s claim of a widespread warning may be an attempt to compensate for the lack of any major damage from the attack.
“We received a message from the Iranians as this was ongoing, through the Swiss.
“This was basically suggesting that they were finished after this, but it was still an ongoing attack.
“So, that was (their) message to us,” the U.S. official added.
Israeli minister without portfolio, Benny Gantz, stated on Sunday that his country was considering how to respond and will "exact the price from Iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us."
