Was India informed about Iran's April 13 attack in Israel? Iranian ambassador Iraj Elahi says...

Iranian ambassador Iraj Elahi said Iran had informed a few neighbouring countries about its April 13 airstrike in Israel “to maintain the safety of passenger planes”. 

In an exclusive interview with the Hindustan Times, he said,  "Before carrying out the attack, we had informed the neighbouring countries that were in the path of the missiles because of maintaining the safety of passenger planes."

Elahi further informed that the minister of foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had spoken with India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar after the operation in Israel.

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"After the operation, the minister of foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran had a telephone conversation with Mr Jaishankar, the minister of foreign affairs of India, and informed him about the details of the operation," Elahi was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

Overnight on April 13, Iran carried out its first attack directly targeting Israel. Israel, backed by its allies, intercepted most of the 300 missiles and drones launched by Iran and suffered no deaths. 

Iran's attack on Israel was in retaliation to the April 1 strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed seven of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.

Later on April 19, reports of an explosion in the Iranian city of Isfahan emerged early Friday. US media quoted officials as saying that Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes. There was no immediate reaction from Israeli or Iranian officials.

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India's role in Israel-Iran attacks

Elahi said India can play an active role in preventing Israeli aggression. "Israel has committed all kinds of crimes against the people of Gaza in the past seven months and has killed more than 35,000 innocent people in Gaza. Is it right to remain silent in the face of such a crime?" he asked.

He added that Iran-India ties are also in “a good condition” and that Iran is “ready to develop these relations in all fields, including energy”.