Apparent Israeli attack on Iran’s territory intercepted, no damage to any installation: Envoy

PTI, Apr 20, 2024, 8:49 AM IST

Location map of Iran (Credit: AP)

Mumbai: An Iranian diplomat on Friday said his country’s defence systems intercepted an apparent Israeli attack on its territory and added there has been no damage to any of its installations as he emphasised on Tehran’s “inherent and legitimate right” to defend itself in face of aggression.

Davoud Rezaei Eskandari, Iran’s consul general in Mumbai, asserted that if there is an attack on its territory anywhere or on its nuclear facility, then his country has an “inherent and legitimate right” to defend itself.

“There has been, maybe, just a small quadcopter (attack). All (attacks) have been intercepted by our defence system. As far as we know, there has been no damage to any of our installations,” Eskandari told PTI.

The apparent strike came just days after Iran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel. Iran fired air defence batteries early on Friday and some flights were diverted or grounded after reports of explosions near a major airbase and nuclear site where drones were spotted.

“We believe that if there would be any attack to our national territory anywhere, to our nuclear facility, it is an inherent (and) legitimate right of Iran to defend itself,” said Eskandari.

“And this is what we did last week,” he said, in an apparent reference to Iranian missile and drone attacks in response to a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1 in Syria.

The April 1 attack destroyed a building in Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian, officers including a top general. The envoy said Iran has “very good relations” with India.

“We believe that we have a very good relationship with India. We don’t find this relationship affected by other issues. You know, historically speaking, India has a very good image of being a neutral country. I think is an important asset for India,” Eskandari said.