Washington: The United States, on Sunday, refuted Iran's claim that it gave prior notice to Washington and neighbouring countries before striking Israel in an unprecedented air attack. A senior US official in Biden's administration invalidated Iranian Foreign Minister H. Amirabdollahian's claim that Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel's ally the United States 72 hours' notice before it would launch the strikes.
In a statement to news agency Reuters, the top US official said, "That is absolutely not true. They did not give notification, nor did they give any sense of 'these will be the targets, so evacuate them.'" "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.
Further, spelling an attack on Iran over their 'claim', the official emphasized that the widespread warning may be an attempt by Iran to compensate for the lack of any major damage from the attack.
It is pertinent to note that the statement by the US official came against the backdrop of Turkish, Jordanian, and Iraqi officials confirming Iran's claim that Tehran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel. Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry, before the attack, said it had spoken to both Washington and Tehran. The Ministry said it conveyed messages as an intermediary to be sure reactions were proportionate.
Biden vows "ironclad support" to Israel amid tumultuous development.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has pledged "ironclad" support for Israel against Iran's attack, where it fired hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.
In a statement released earlier condemning Iranian aggression, Biden said, "I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks, sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel."
"At my direction, to support the defence of Israel, the US military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defence destroyers to the region over the course of the past week. Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles," he added.
(With Agency Inputs)
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