Iran: "No Prior Coordination with US Before Israel Airstrikes"

Iran denied reports that it indirectly or directly informed the United States and neighboring countries of its plans before Israel's airstrike to coordinate the scale of the operation.

On the 15th (local time), according to major foreign media, Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a press conference that "Iran has not reached any prior agreement with any country regarding how to approach a military response to Israel."

Earlier, major foreign media reported on the 14th that Iran notified the United States of related information through T?rkiye before attacking Israel on the night of the 13th.

The media, citing sources in T?rkiye, reported that Iran informed T?rkiye that the retaliatory airstrike operation against Israel was limited in purpose, responding only to Israel's 'consulate attack,' and would not go beyond that, and this was conveyed to the United States.

In response, the United States reportedly instructed Iran through T?rkiye that "the operation must be conducted within certain limits."

In the early morning of the 14th (local time), Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepted an Iranian drone in central Israel.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

It was also reported that Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Foreign Minister, met with ambassadors stationed in Tehran on the 14th and informed the United States that Iran's response would be limited before attacking Israel the previous day, and that neighboring countries in the region were notified 72 hours before the airstrike.

Regarding this, spokesperson Kanaani said, as reported by local Iranian media, that "the recent messages exchanged between Iran and the United States were related to the Zionist regime's (Israel's) blatant act against the consulate in Damascus."

While acknowledging communication with the United States before the airstrike, he stated that Iran protested to the United States regarding the incident on the 1st of this month when Israel bombed the Iranian consulate, killing seven people including senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Spokesperson Kanaani emphasized, "If the United States had not approved, the Zionist regime would not have dared to take such action against our country's consulate, so the responsibility for this issue lies with the United States."

He continued, "The United States should have acknowledged its responsibility or taken measures to restrain the Zionist regime," and reiterated that "the messages exchanged between the two countries during this period were related to this," denying the allegations of prior coordination.