(19 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 19 April 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Gambrell, AP’s Gulf and Iran news director:
"Iran has fired air defense systems in the central part of the country in what appears to be some kind of Israeli response to that earlier attack by Tehran a few days ago. Now, what we know is still pretty scattered. As of this morning Iran stopped flights, air defense systems were going off, people heard the sound of explosions near Isfahan. That’s home to a major airbase where Iran has the F-14 Tomcats that were bought before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It’s also home to a major nuclear facility as well. Now, Iran is not calling this an attack. They’re downplaying it. They’re trying to make jokes about it on state television today. But it comes after Tehran launched an attack, that saw hundreds of drones and missiles launched at Israel that followed another Israeli attack in Syria that killed members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Jerusalem – 14 April 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
2. Wide of skyline, lights seen in sky
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Damascus, Syria – 1 April 2024
3. Wide of rubble of Iranian consulate building targeted by Israeli strike
4. Wide of Iranian Embassy building and destroyed building next to it
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 19 April 2024
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Gambrell, AP’s Gulf and Iran news director:
"Analysts say that this may be an attempt by Iran to try to step away, to try not to escalate the situation. That attack on Israel by Iran was unprecedented and this attack today does not seem to have caused any serious damage, as far as we can tell. But it does show that potentially Israel is capable of launching drones into Iran and it also comes as today marks the 85th birthday of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So, analysts say this could be a warning to Iran that Israel still remains capable of launching future attacks."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Iran has fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near its central city of Isfahan after spotting drones.
The commotion early Friday raised fears of a possible Israeli retaliatory strike following Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
It was unclear if the country had come under attack, as no Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment.
However, tensions have remained high in the days since the Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria.
U.S. officials declined to comment as of early Friday, but American broadcast networks quoting unnamed U.S. officials said Israel carried out the attack.
The New York Times quoted anonymous Israeli officials claiming the assault, which came on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday.
Israeli politicians also made comments hinting that the country had launched an attack.
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