by Jasper Ward and Nidal al-Mughrabi
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday that Tehran was investigating an attack earlier in the day in Iran, downplaying the incident and adding that no links to Israel had been shown.
Hossein Amirabdollahian, traveling to the United States to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East, told NBC News that drones took off from Iranian territory and flew about 100 meters before ‘be slaughtered.
“They are more like the toys our children use than drones,” he said.
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“It has not been proven that there is a link between them and Israel,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said, adding that Iran was investigating the matter and that media reports were inaccurate, according to Tehran. .
Iranian media and officials reported several small explosions, which they said resulted from the activation of air defense systems to shoot down three drones over Isfahan, in central Iran, in the early hours of Friday.
They described the incident as an attack by “infiltrators”, not Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that if Israel acted against Iran’s interests, Tehran’s response would be immediate and “at the maximum level”, adding that otherwise the issue would not arise.
The Israeli government has promised to respond to Tehran’s large-scale salvo of drones and missiles launched last Saturday – Iran’s first direct attack on Israel – in retaliation for an April 1 strike, believed to be Israeli, against a diplomatic compound. Iranian in Damascus, Syria.
(With contributions from Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, written by Daphne Psaledakis; French version Camille Raynaud)
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