Iran has launched drone attacks at Israel, U.S. officials say

Iran on Saturday launched attacks against Israel, according to U.S. officials, escalating long-standing tensions between the two nations that have the potential to trigger a regional war.

“Iran has begun an airborne attack against Israel. President Biden is being regularly updated on the situation by his national security team and will meet with them this afternoon at the White House,” according to a statement from  NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson. “President Biden has been clear: our support for Israel’s security is ironclad. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Saturday that Israel would work “in close coordination” with the U.S. and regional partners to intercept the launches.

“We are monitoring the threat in the airspace. It is a threat that takes several hours to reach the territory of the State of Israel,” he added.

Strains between Iran and Israel have been heating up since the start of the war in Gaza in October, and especially over the past several weeks after Iran accused Israel of perpetrating an attack on its consulate in Damascus on April 1.

Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pledged to retaliate against Israel for the Damascus strike and Israel, in turn, threatened a counterattack of its own. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the Damascus attack.

“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will react and attack in Iran,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz wrote in a Wednesday post on X, tagging the Ayatollah’s X account.

Given Iran’s various warnings, the White House had been expecting an Iranian strike and had been communicating with Israel to ensure they would be prepared to defend themselves.

Ahead of the attacks on Saturday, President Joe Biden was en route back to the White House, earlier than initially scheduled, to meet with his national security team, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, amid the growing prospect of an Iranian strike.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship with links to Israel in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route. The White House condemned the move shortly after.

“Seizing a civilian vessel without provocation is a blatant violation of international law, and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a post on X.

Ahead of the attack, Israel also announced that beginning on Sunday, it would close schools and limit gatherings to 1,000 people in certain areas.

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