Iran-Israel Crisis Highlights: US House passes $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei thanked the country's armed forces for their operation against Israel, and urged them to "ceaselessly pursue military innovation and learn the enemy's tactics," Iran's official news agency reported.

Tehran openly targeted Israel for the first time on April 13 with more than 300 missiles and drones in what it said was retaliation for Israel's suspected deadly bombing of its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1.

"How many missiles were launched and how many of them hit their target is not the primary question, what really matters is that Iran demonstrated its will-power during that operation," Khamenei said on Sunday.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will make an official visit to Pakistan this week, Islamabad said, as the two Muslim neighbours seek to mend ties after tit-for-tat missile strikes in January.

The visit, which Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would take place from Monday to Wednesday, had been in doubt as Middle East tensions rose after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel a week ago and central Iran received what sources said was an Israeli attack on Friday.

Pakistan has signalled since January that Raisi would visit, and the prime minister said last week the visit would take place "very soon".

Tehran has played down Friday's apparent Israeli attack and indicated it had no plans for retaliation, a response that appeared gauged towards keeping the Israel-Gaza war from expanding to a regionwide conflict.

During his visit Raisi will meet Pakistan's president and prime minister, the chairman of the Senate and speaker of the National Assembly, Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement.

Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 13 people, including nine children, health officials said on Sunday, as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to its close ally. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint.

The House of Representatives approved a USD 26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around USD 9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza. -- AP

Iran’s foreign minister on Friday said Tehran was investigating an overnight attack on Iran, adding that so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the strike.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US House for passing the Israel aid bill.

“The US Congress just overwhelmingly passed a much appreciated aid bill that demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization. Thank you friends, thank you America!” Netanyahu said on social media platform, X.

Israeli forces have killed 13 Palestinians since beginning a raid on Tulkarm city and Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank from Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to bring the hostages held in Gaza home, in the latest round of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The protests have continued as the war in Gaza moves through its seventh month and amid growing anger over the government's approach to the 133 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement Hamas. (Reuters)

A Palestinian ambulance driver was killed during the evacuation of wounded individuals in a raid by Jewish settlers on Saturday, news agency Reuters reported..

According to the Palestinian health ministry, the 50-year-old driver was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire near the village of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus, as he attempted to transport those injured during the attack. While it remains unclear whether the driver was targeted by settlers, there has been no immediate response from the military regarding the incident. 

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives,today passed the first in a series of bills in a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from party hardliners.

More than two months have passed since the Democratic-majority Senate passed a similar measure and U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote. (Reuters)

An Iranian attack on an Israeli desert air base last week as part of Tehran's attack on the country damaged a taxiway, a satellite image analysed by The Associated Press shows.

The overall damage done to Nevatim air base in southern Israel was minor despite Iran launching hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. 

Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul to discuss efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid there, as reported by state broadcaster TRT, today.

Tension between Israel and Iran should not distract from the situation in Gaza and the first priority of the international community should be ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"Our first priority should be ending Israel's occupation in Palestine and a two-state solution," he said.

Fidan was speaking in Istanbul on Saturday during a visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who urged Iran and Israel to exercise restraint. (Reuters)

Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight.Militia officials had initially described the explosion at the Kalsu military base north of Babylon — a former U.S. base that was handed over to the Iraqi military in 2011 — as an airstrike, blaming it on US forces. The US Central Command denied in a statement that it had carried out any airstrikes in Iraq.

The PMF in a statement Saturday afternoon described the blast as an “attack” but did not blame any specific party.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Saturday urged both Iran and Israel to exercise restraint amid high tensions in the Middle East.

Separately, Shoukry said Egypt would host a Turkish delegation to prepare for a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Turkey in the near future. 

An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah kills at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities have said.

The Israeli army killed five Palestinians, in an offensive at the Nur Shams refugee camp located on the east of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, WAFA news agency reported.

One member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces was killed and eight were wounded in an explosion at its command post on the Kalso military base 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, a military statement said on Saturday, news agency Reuters reported.

There were no drones or fighter jets detected in the air space of the Babylon area before or during the blast, the military confirmed in a statement. (Reuters)

Iraq has formed a technical committee to look into the causes of the explosion and fire at at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad late on Friday, news agency Reuters reported, quoting a statement.

An air strike hit the command post of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an official security force, located at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad late on Friday, news agency Reuters reported.

One PMF fighter was killed and six were wounded, according to sources at a hospital in the nearby city of Hilla. While a team is investigating the attack, the PMF said that the blast caused “material damage and injuries.”

Watch the video here by Al Jazeera:

According to a statement quoted by Al Jazeera, Hamas has 'strongly condemned' the explosions on Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), considering it as a 'violation of Iraq's sovereignty.'

“We hold the Biden administration responsible for the escalation in the region through its supply and support for the Nazi war of extermination against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the group said according to the statement. Al Jazeera

Seven Palestinians were Saturday killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tal as-Sulatn neighbourhood in Rafah, according to WAFA news agency.

Israeli warplanes targeted a house in Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in the southern blockaded Gaza Strip, killing mostly women and children.

According to WAFA, the death toll is likely to climb given the number of people who sustained wounds in the air raid.

Israel demonstrated its military dominance over adversary Iran in its apparent precision strikes that hit near military and nuclear targets, meeting little significant challenge from Iran's defences and providing the world with new insights into both militaries' capabilities, news agency PTI noted.

The international community, Israel and Iran all signalled hopes that Friday's airstrikes would end what has been a dangerous 19-day run of strikes and counterstrikes.

As all sides took stock, regional security experts predicted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government and the country's allies would emerge encouraged by Israeli military's superior performance. In response to international appeals, however, both Israel and Iran had appeared to be holding back their full military force throughout the hostilities, aiming to send messages rather than escalate to a full-scale war, according to PTI.

Crucially, experts also cautioned that Iran had not brought into the main battle its greatest military advantage over Israel — Hezbollah and other Iran-allied armed groups in the region. Hezbollah in particular is capable of straining Israel's ability to defend itself, especially in any multifront conflict.

Overall, “the big-picture lesson to take away is that unless Iran does absolutely everything at its disposal all at once, it is just the David, and not the Goliath, in this equation,” said Charles Lister, a senior fellow and longtime regional researcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, PTI stated.

Aside from those Iranian proxy forces, “the Israelis have every single advantage on every single military level,” Lister said.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a Washington-based centre that promotes Israeli-US security ties, quickly pointed out that Friday's small strike underscored that Israel could do much more damage “should it decide to launch a larger strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.” Iran's barrage last weekend, by contrast, appears to have used up most of its 150 long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel, more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away, said retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, former commander of the US military's Central Command.

Israelis, for their part, have "shown that Israel can now hit Iran from its soil with missiles, maybe even drones,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute.

The two weeks of hostilities also provided the biggest showcase yet of the growing ability of Israel to work with Arab nations, its previous enemies, under the framework of US Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, the PTI report stated. (PTI)

The UN World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid for the starving civilians of Gaza once the US military completes a pier for transporting the humanitarian assistance by sea, US officials said on Friday, news agency AP reported.

The involvement of the UN agency could help resolve one of the major obstacles facing the US-planned project — the reluctance of aid groups to handle on-the-ground distribution of food and other badly needed goods in Gaza absent significant changes by Israel.

The US Agency for International Development confirmed to The Associated Press that it would partner with the WFP on delivering humanitarian assistance to Gaza via the maritime corridor.

“This is a complex operation that requires coordination between many partners, and our conversations are ongoing. Throughout Gaza, the safety and security of humanitarian actors is critical to the delivery of assistance, and we continue to advocate for measures that will give humanitarians greater assurances,” USAID said in its statement to the AP. (AP)

The US military’s success helping Israel stop a massive wave of Iranian missiles and drones last weekend might suggest Washington is well prepared militarily for whatever comes next as Iran and Israel move from shadow warfare to direct confrontation.

But current and former US officials say US forces are not positioned for a major, sustained Middle East conflict and the Pentagon may have to revisit assumptions about military needs in the region if the crisis deepens.

“I don’t think we have all the forces that we would want to support Israel if there was a direct war between them and Iran,” said Michael Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East under the Trump administration. Read more here.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an official security force, said its command post at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad was hit by a huge explosion late on Friday, and two security sources said it resulted from an air strike.

One PMF fighter was killed and six were wounded, two sources at a hospital in the nearby city of Hilla said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said drones that sources say Israel fired at the city of Isfahan on Friday caused no damage or casualties, in comments made to the envoys of Muslim countries in New York and cited by Iranian media.

'The Zionist regime's media supporters, in a desperate effort, tried to make victory out of their defeat, while the downed mini-drones have not caused any damage or casualties,' Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying.

(Reuters)

Iran's consul general in Mumbai affirmed on Friday that Iran possesses an "inherent and legitimate right" to defend itself in the face of aggression, according to a report by PTI.

This statement follows remarks made by an Iranian commander indicating that Tehran is prepared to target Israeli nuclear installations amid the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

Rezaei Eskandari, Iran's consul general in Mumbai, stated, "We believe that if there would be any attack on our national territory or nuclear facilities, it is an inherent and legitimate right of Iran to defend itself."

He made reference to recent Iranian responses to a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1, which destroyed a building in Iran's embassy compound in Damascus and resulted in casualties, including a top general.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said, that the United States was not involved in Israel’s predawn aerial strike inside Iran and declined to confirm reports that Washington was notified of Israeli plans shortly before the attack, the Reuters reported.

"I'm not going to speak to that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations," Blinken said at a news conference capping a gathering of G7 foreign ministers on the southern Italian island of Capri.

"What we're focused on, what the G7 is focused on, and again, it's reflected in our statement, and in our conversation, is our work to de-escalate tensions, to de-escalate from any potential conflicts," Blinken said.

Oil slipped on Friday following an earlier price spike of more than $3 after Iran played down reported Israeli attacks on its soil, in a sign that an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East might be avoided.

'Whilst the initial spike in oil may have highlighted the initial fear of further escalation, we have seen both equities and crude reverse some of those preliminary moves,' said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.(With Inputs from Reuters)

A man was arrested after he threatened to blow himself up at the Iranian consulate in Paris, according to Reuters. A major police operation was launched in the French capital after the incident, which took place less than two miles from the Eiffel Tower.

The man was holed up ‘within the consulate in the presence of the ambassador,’ before his arrest, according to reports by the French radio station Europe One.

Read the full report here

Israel's 'aggression' on Iran is an escalation against the region, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Friday.

'We call for expanding the scale of the engagement against the (Israeli) occupation in response to the war of genocide in Gaza and the escalation in the region,' said Abu Zuhri.

Hamas leaders have frequently praised Iran for its financial and military support to the group, and other Palestinian militants, including during the current war with Israel which began on Oct 7.

(With Inputs from Reuters)

G7 Foreign Ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel. Their communique also urged both Iran and Israel to avoid an escalation of conflict.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who chaired the meeting, said that G7 ministers condemned Iran's weekend attack on Israel and urged both sides to exercise restraint.

“The political objective is de-escalation,” Tajani said. 

(With inputs from AP)

• "Open conflict between the two makes it clear that without a resolution to Palestine's statehood, there will be no peace in West Asia"
• "Whatever the case may be, the gloves are off between Israel and Iran, and this is a troubling sign of worse things to come. What makes the leaders of these two countries engage in such high-risk attacks that can destabilise the entire region?"
• "The war in Gaza has made clear that the denial of Palestinian rights – and unless their right to a state is granted — there will be instability and violence in West Asia."

Read Bernard Haykel's opinion here

The Wall Street Journal reported that US President Joe Biden is considering more than $1 billion worth of new arms for Israel.

"The Biden administration is considering more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel including tank ammunition, military vehicles and mortar rounds, US officials said, at a time of heightened scrutiny of the use of American-made weapons in the war in Gaza,
the Wall Street Journal said.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has called on Iran, Israel and their allies to refrain from escalation in the Middle East, after sources said Israel carried out an attack on Iran, reports Reuters.

“It is absolutely necessary that the region remains stable and that all sides restrain from further action,” von der Leyen said alongside Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo in Lappeenranta, Finland, about 25 km (15 miles) from the Russian border.

The Middle East plunged deeper into crisis on Friday, as Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in Syria, it’s state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement as saying. Meanwhile, Iran fired air defenses after explosions were heard and drones spotted near a major base at the city of Isfahan, reports said. It remained unclear if the country was under attack by Israel.

Deputy French foreign minister Jean-noel Barrot says, "All I can say is that France's position is to call on all actors for de-escalation and restraint", reports Reuters.

The United States on Thursday effectively stopped the United Nations from recognizing a Palestinian state by casting a veto in the Security Council to deny Palestinians full membership of the world body. It vetoed a draft resolution that recommended to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership” of the U.N. Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the remaining 12 council members voted yes.

“The United States continues to strongly support a two-state solution. This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council. Read the full report here

Reuters is reporting that Iran has no plan for immediate retaliation against Israel, as per a senior Iranian official. This comes after Israel allegedly launched an attack near a major base at the city of Isfahan.

"The foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack," the Iranian official said on condition of anonymity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday there was no damage to Iran's nuclear sites in an alleged attack by Israel on Iran. The agency continues to monitor the situation very closely and calls for extreme restraint from all sides, stressing that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts. 

IAEA can confirm that there is no damage to #Iran’s nuclear sites. DG @rafaelmgrossi continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts. IAEA is monitoring the situation very closely. pic.twitter.com/4F7pAlNjWM

— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency ?? (@iaeaorg) April 19, 2024

Airlines quickly changed flight paths over Iran, diverted to alternate airports or returned planes to their departure points on Friday in response to airspace and airport closures after an Israeli attack on Iran, flight tracking data showed.

Iran closed its airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan after the attack and cleared flights from the western portion of its airspace for a few hours after the attack, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

By 0445 GMT the airports and airspace had reopened, and closure notices posted on a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration database had been removed. (Reuters)

Reuters is reporting this: No damage was caused in the overnight attack, a senior commander of Iran's Army Siavosh Mihandoust said on Friday as per state TV. He added that the noise heard overnight in Isfahan was due to air defence systems targeting a "suspicious object".

As the spectre of a larger conflict looms in the region, questions are being raised about what Iran’s military capabilities look like at the moment.

First, what is the spread of Iran-backed groups?

Militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have received Iranian support for their activities for years. Some experts believe that funding such groups spread across the region, helps Iran engage in security and intelligence operations and maintain deniability, ultimately helping the regime safeguard itself.

Read more here

Reuters is reporting that Flydubai airlines has cancelled flights to the Iranian capital Tehran and turned back flight FZ 1929 due to the closure of the airport in the crisis-struck territory.

"For India, the region constitutes our extended neighbourhood. Stability is crucial for cooperation and development. Turmoil affects the security of the large Indian diaspora based in the Gulf region; there is the additional risk of piracy and hostage-taking. The Global South and global governance would also be impacted by continuing instability in the Middle East," writes Sanjay Bhattacharyya in his Opinion piece.

Ever since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis, concerns about a wider regional conflict in the Middle East have been raised, with the two powers and rivals at the centre of it.

India woke up on Sunday (April 14) morning to visuals of Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel with drones and missiles, which caused immediate concern in New Delhi.

South Block quickly issued a statement expressing India’s “serious concern” at the escalation of hostilities, and called for “immediate de-escalation”.

A potential response by Israel threatens to escalate the situation and expand the conflict. This is a big worry for New Delhi, which has already flagged the possible expansion of the conflict. Here's how

Explosions heard in Isfahan were a result of the activation of Iran’s air defence systems, an Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, asserting that no missile attack was launched inside the territory. According to initial reports, Israeli missiles had hit a site in Iran. Isfahan province houses several of Iran’s nuclear sites, including Natanz, centerpiece of the country’s uranium enrichment program.