Iran has stated that it informed countries in the region and the US about its plan to attack Israel on Saturday night. However, a senior US government official has denied this to Reuters news agency.
Iran's foreign minister mentioned on Sunday that neighboring countries and Israel's ally were notified 72 hours in advance. The Turkish counterpart also stated that their country has been an intermediary for messages between Tehran and Washington to ensure a proportionate response to the attacks.
A Turkish diplomat source from the news agency reported that Iran indicated it would react to the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. The source said these developments were not surprising.
The US government official contradicts this.
“This is absolutely not true,” the person told Reuters. “They didn’t announce anything, nor let them know, ‘these are the targets, make sure you evacuate them.’ We received a message from Iran through Switzerland when it had already begun. It was stated that it would remain here, but the attack was still in the process. That is what they told us.”
According to the official, Iran was reported to have described the attack as 'tremendously devastating', but the official suggests that Iran is now claiming it gave warnings to explain why the attack did not ultimately cause the intended devastation.
