Iran attacks on Israel LIVE Updates: Israel urges 32 countries to impose more sanctions on Iran

Japan’s foreign minister urged her Iranian counterpart on Tuesday to “exercise restraint” following Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, according to a readout of their telephone talks issued by Tokyo. 

Yoko Kamikawa told Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that “Japan is deeply concerned about the attacks by Iran against Israel, which further deteriorate the current situation in the Middle East, and strongly condemns such escalation,” the statement said. 

She added that “the current situation is not in the interest of the international community as a whole, including Japan, not to mention that of Iran and the Iranian people, and strongly urged Iran to exercise restraint, stating that further escalation of tensions must be prevented,” it said.

 Kamikawa also “pointed out the importance of freedom of navigation and safety and called for Iran to ensure the safety of navigation in the waters of the region,” the statement added.

Japan’s foreign minister urged her Iranian counterpart on Tuesday to “exercise restraint” following Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, according to a readout of their telephone talks issued by Tokyo.

President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel it will face a “painful response” if it takes the “slightest action” in response to Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile barrage at the weekend. 

Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, which began on Saturday, was in response to an April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus which has been widely blamed on Israel.

Japan urged Iran to exercise restraint following its attack against Israel during a telephone call between the two countries’ foreign ministers, the Japanese foreign ministry said on Tuesday. 

Japan Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa also urged that the safety of navigation be ensured in the region’s waters in the call with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Japanese government said.

Israel’s foreign minister said on Tuesday he was urging countries to place sanctions on Iran’s missile program and proscribe its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has postponed his visit to India this week in view of the evolving situation in West Asia following escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran. 

The senior Biden administration official was scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on the progress in implementation of the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) besides other issues.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a UN Security Council meeting, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi was asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility in retaliation for the attack.

“We are always concerned about this possibility. What I can tell you is that our inspectors in Iran were informed by the Iranian government that yesterday (Sunday), all the nuclear facilities that we are inspecting every day would remain closed on security considerations,” he said.

Over the weekend, Iran deployed hundreds of drones and missiles in an attack on Israel. Now, Israel weighs its response as US officials and their allies try to prevent further escalation. 

China’s top diplomat told Iran that the nations can work together across a range of areas in the future, signaling their ties remain solid following Tehran’s unprecedented attack on Israel. 

“China is ready to steadily advance practical cooperation in various fields with Iran and promote greater development of China-Iran relations,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in a phone call on Monday.

Due to ongoing events in the Middle East, US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan (in file pic) has postponed his trip to India this week. NSA Sullivan looks forward to holding the iCET annual review at the next earliest possible date and remains personally committed to advancing our deeply consequential and multifaceted partnership with India: US Embassy Spokesperson. 

Similarly, the President looks forward to the next meeting of the Quad leaders and continuing our efforts with India to deliver results for the American and Indian people, as well as our partners, in support of our shared vision for a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific: US Embassy Spokesperson

The Israeli military renewed warnings on Monday for Palestinians not to return to northern Gaza, a day after witnesses and medical officials said Israeli troops opened fire and killed five people among throngs of displaced residents trying to walk back to their homes in the devastated area.

China’s foreign minister held phone discussions with his Iranian counterpart, Beijing state media said Tuesday, reporting that Iran said it was “willing to exercise restraint” after its first-ever attack on Israel’s territory.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held calls on Monday with counterparts in the Middle East and Europe, expressing support for Israel after attacks from Iran but also stressing regional stability to prevent conflict from spreading, the Pentagon said.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief said on Monday he is concerned about Israel possibly targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, but that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of Iranian facilities would resume on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said Monday they would keep working towards the withdrawal of a US-led anti-jihadist coalition in the country. Their meeting at the White House came amid soaring tensions in the Middle East after Iraq’s neighbor Iran launched a massive aerial attack on US ally Israel over the weekend.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.

China’s foreign minister held phone discussions with his Iranian counterpart, Beijing’s state media said Tuesday, reporting that Iran reiterated it was “willing to exercise restraint” after its first-ever attack on Israel’s territory. 

Israel has vowed to respond to the unprecedented Iranian missile and drone strikes over the weekend, which have prompted appeals for de-escalation by world leaders fearing wider conflict.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that his Republican-controlled chamber would vote this week on separate aid bills for Ukraine and Israel, after stalling for months over pressure from his party’s right-wing.

Additional United States military assets that were moved into the Middle East before Iran’s attack on Israel will remain in place, CNN reported, citing Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. 

“As (Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin) has said, both publicly and privately, we don’t want to see escalation, but we obviously will take necessary measures to protect our forces in the region and as was demonstrated over the weekend, we’ll take necessary measures to defend Israel,” Ryder said

Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on their country as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

Israel’s military chief said Monday that his country will respond to Iran’s weekend attack, but he did not elaborate on when and how as world leaders urged against retaliation, trying to avoid a spiral of violence in the Middle East.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for restraint in the Middle East on Monday during talks in Washington as tensions soar between Iran and Israel after Tehran’s weekend strikes. 

“We encourage all the efforts of stopping the expansion of the area of conflict, especially the latest development,” Sudani said at the White House at the start of a meeting with President Joe Biden.

China said it believed Iran will be able to “handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil” while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity, referring to an attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria and its retaliatory strike over the weekend. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said to his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on a phone call that China appreciated Iran’s emphasis on not targeting regional and neighbouring countries, according to the official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: American airline, United airlines on Monday said that it cancelled its flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. The airline has also cancelled flights  from Washington Dulles Airport to Amman, Jordan for Tuesday, reported Reuters.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, US President Joe Biden on Monday said that the US want to  prevent Middle East conflict spreading

Iran attacks on Israel Live: UK PM Rishi Sunak on Monday said that he is in communication with a number of Group of Seven (G7) leaders to come up with a package of measures against Iran, 

“We are urgently working with our allies to see what steps we can take together in a coordinated fashion to deter and condemn what Iran is doing,” Sunak said in parliament, citing discussions among G7 leaders over the weekend.

“I spoke to my fellow G7 leaders, we are united in our condemnation of this attack.”

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Amid the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, the Israeli ambassador to India Naor Gilon said that Israeli defence forces with the support of the US and “other friends in the region” were able to “intercept 99 per cent” of the UAVs and missiles fired by Iranians. Gilon also called India as a “very respected player in the international arena, should put its influence and weight” in bringing things back to normal,” reported PTI.

“I think that we expect from India, as a friend, to be very strong in the international community in making sure that Iran stops its destabilisation of West Asia,” Gilon told PTI in an interview.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday said that his country doesn’t want to increase tensions but will respond immediately and more strongly than before if Israel retaliates, reported Reuters referring to Iranian state media.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday said that he would soon speak to Benjamin Netanyahu urging on discussing ways to prevent escalation in the region after Iran’s drone and missile attack.

“I will also shortly be speaking to Prime Minister Netanyahu to express our solidarity with Israel in the face of this attack, and to discuss how we can prevent further escalation,” Sunak said in a statement to parliament.

“All sides must show restraint,” he added.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: The ongoing crisis between Iran and Israel has made the operations of the international flights difficult in the region. Due to the current situation, several airlines have now been forced to choose lengthy detours from cities like London and Paris to destinations in the Persian Gulf or India.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Monday said that Tehran will “soon” allow Indian authorities to meet 17 Indian crew members of a cargo vessel that was seized by Iran’s military near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

Amir-Abdollahian conveyed this to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a telephonic conversation on Sunday, according to an Iranian foreign ministry readout.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israel to avoid escalation in the ongoing crisis He also said that Israel must avoid worsening the situation in the region. European leaders joined the US in pushing for Israel to restrain its response to Iran’s drone and missile attack, in a bid to allay a wider military conflict. 

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Nearly a day after Iran’s attack on Israel, Qatar airways resumed scheduled services to Iran on Monday. The Gulf airline began services to Iran including 20 weekly flights to  Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Isfahan, it said.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Iranian President  Ebrahim Raisi is likely to visit Pakistan on April 22 amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, reported ANI citing Pakistan local media.

He is set to hold meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and the military leadership, according to a media report on Monday.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Days after Iran attacked Israel on late Saturday, Russia expressed concerns about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s attack on Israel.

“We call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Further escalation is in no one’s interests. Therefore, of course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political and diplomatic methods,” Al Jazeera quoted Peskov.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, on Sunday expressed great appreciation for the joint defence effort to save Israel from Iran’s attack. The Chief of Staff expressed great appreciation for the joint defence effort to thwart and intercept the Iranian missile attack on Israel overnight.

“The IDF’s strategic partnership with the United States Army is significant for maintaining regional stability and security in the Middle East,” said Halevi.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: The collective defense against Iran’s attack was the result of ‘culmination of a decades-old but elusive U.S. goal to forge closer military ties between Israel and its longtime Arab adversaries’, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: Amid severe backlash from the international community for its attack on Israel, Iran foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the Western countries to appreciate its ‘restraint in recent months’.

Iran attacks on Israel Live: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday warned Iran not to launch another attack on Israel and also stressed on the need of cooling the situation with Israel’s cooperation.

Speaking in Shanghai on a visit to China while addressing trade frictions between the European Union and China, Scholz said there should be fair competition conditions and no protectionist motives.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would help do everything to avoid an escalation in the Middle East. “For several years now we have had an air base in Jordan to fight terrorism…Jordanian airspace was violated… We made our planes take off and we intercepted what we had to intercept.”  French jets helped repel an Iranian violation of Jordan’s air space, Macron said on Monday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned the ambassadors of the U.K., Germany and France after the three European nations condemned an Iranian attack on Israel. The ministry said on its website that the ambassadors were called in over their governments’ “irresponsible stances” on the Iranian operation against Israel.

Pope Francis urged Iran and Israel in his Sunday’s prayer to avoid new actions that could spark “a spiral of violence” and drag the Middle East deeper into conflict. “I follow in prayer and with concern, even pain, the news that came in the last few hours about the aggravation of the situation in Israel, due to the intervention by Iran,” Francis said. “No one should threaten the existence of others. Instead, all nations should side with peace and help Israelis and Palestinians to live in two States side by side, in safety,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said his country has no intention of continuing the military operation against Israel. “At this juncture, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention of continuing defensive operations,” he posted on X, and added: “But if necessary, it will not hesitate to protect its legitimate interests against any new aggression.” Amirabdollahian called the attack “exercising the right of legitimate defense” and said it shows Iran’s responsible approach to “regional and international peace and security.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed that UK military jets shot down “a number of Iranian attack drones” during an attack on Israel. Sunak says the Royal Air Force sent additional planes to the Middle East to help intercept airborne strikes. “If this attack had been successful, the fallout for regional security would be hard to overstate,” Sunak said.

The UK government has moved “several additional” fighter jets and refueling tankers to the region. The British government said the air assets will bolster the country’s existing operation against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Besides, they will also intercept “airborne attacks” if required.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday said Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel was a “legitimate act” that came in response to an airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Syria that was widely blamed on Israel. The Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital and much of the country’s north, have repeatedly launched attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war.

A dozen airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the last two days, including Qantas, Germany’s Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air India. This was the biggest single disruption to air travel since the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, according to Reuters news agency.
Iran’s airspace is used by airlines travelling between Europe and Asia and those carriers will be restricted to two viable alternative routes, either through Turkey or via Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

President Joe Biden is set to host Iraq’s leader this week for talks that come as tensions across the Middle East have soared over the war in Gaza and Iran’s unprecedented weekend attack on Israel. Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are both expected to address the U.S. troop presence in meetings with al-Sudani.

US CENTCOM forces, supported by US European Command destroyed destroyed more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen.

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