Posted on 04/19/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday that the White House has "no comment" on reports of overnight Israeli strikes in Iran.
Speaking to reporters, Jean-Pierre said, “I know there’s a lot of interest in reports from the Middle East overnight, we understand that. We get that. I’m going to say it now, though I know you all will certainly ask me about it, that we do not have any comment on the reports at this time.”
A senior US official told ABC News on Friday that three missiles were fired from Israeli fighter aircraft outside of Iran in Friday morning’s very limited strike.
The Israelis were targeting an air defense radar site near Isfahan that’s part of the protection of the Natanz nuclear facility, the official said.
The first assessment is that the strike took out the site, but assessment hasn’t been completed, added the official.
The strike was intended to send a signal to Iran that Israel has these capabilities, but was not looking to escalate the situation, according to the official.
An Israeli official told The Washington Post earlier on Friday that the strike on Iran "was intended to signal to Iran that Israel had the ability to strike inside the country."
The strike was carried out in retaliation for Iran's Saturday night launch of 350 drones and missiles towards Israeli territory. A full 99% of the launches were intercepted, only five fell in Israeli territory; only one person, a Bedouin child, was injured.
A senior US official told Reuters late on Thursday night that the United States did not take part in the Israeli attack and that Jerusalem informed Washington about the attack ahead of time.