Iran says Israeli strikes were 'fully coordinated' with US as hostilities resume

TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday that a fresh round of Israeli strikes was carried out in coordination with the United States, after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks for the first time since a fragile ceasefire in the wider Middle East conflict took effect on April 8.

The latest escalation followed an Israeli strike after Iran targeted Israel in retaliation for an air raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs. The flare-up also pulled in other countries in the region. No casualties were reported in either Iran or Israel.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Washington bore direct responsibility for Israel’s actions and warned that the consequences of rising tensions would also affect the United States. Speaking at a news briefing, he said Tehran believed Israel would not undertake such action without prior coordination with Washington.

In remarks carried by IRNA and Al Jazeera, Baqaei said the renewed violence would affect the diplomatic track that had been launched to end what he described as an imposed war. He added that diplomatic contacts were continuing despite the latest exchanges and said Pakistan’s mediation efforts between Iran and the United States were still under way.

Referring to the ceasefire framework, Baqaei said Iran and the Pakistani mediator had repeatedly stressed that Lebanon formed an integral part of the agreement and said Tehran would not allow Israel or the United States to undermine that aspect of the arrangement. He also said the latest developments would deepen mistrust at a time when messages were already being exchanged with the American side in an atmosphere of severe suspicion.

Baqaei further said what he described as repeated contradictions on the part of the United States had already created disorder in the diplomatic process, and that events over the previous 24 hours would worsen that situation. He also repeated Tehran’s criticism of International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi, accusing him of ignoring the realities of the conflict and showing bias on Iran and its nuclear file.

Strikes on industrial and military targets

Earlier on Monday, Iranian officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a petrochemical company in the country’s southwest, causing partial damage to the facility. The target was in Mahshahr in Khuzestan province.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran responded by striking similar industrial targets in Israel’s Haifa. Another account cited the Iranian military as saying it had targeted Israel’s Ramat David Airbase with ballistic missiles in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut. The military warned that any further action would trigger a broader and more severe Iranian response.

The IRGC’s top joint military command said late on Sunday that Israel had been warned to halt its attacks on Lebanon. If what it described as crimes in Beirut’s Dahieh area expanded, Iran would attack targets in the occupied territories. On Saturday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also posted an image on X showing the national flags of Iran and Lebanon.

Israel had struck the Beirut area on Saturday for the first time since the United States announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week. The wider region has remained tense since US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28 prompted Iranian retaliation against Israel and other regional countries hosting American military sites. A temporary ceasefire was reached on April 8, but later negotiations stalled because of disagreements over its implementation and subsequent developments in the region.