G7 releases statement condemning Iran retaliatory attacks on Israel – as it happened | Iran

Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned the ambassadors of the UK, France, and Germany to question what it referred to as their “irresponsible stance” regarding Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, the semi-official Iranian Labour news agency reported.

Israel, with the help of key western allies, including the UK, claimed to have intercepted 99% of the launches during the Iranian mass strike on Saturday.

UK, Germany and France have been among the western countries which have condemned the drone and missile strike on Israel and has called for restraint.

We have not heard any response from the respective ambassadors.

The director for western Europe at Iran’s foreign ministry accused the three countries of “double standards” as they opposed earlier this month a Russian-drafted UN security council statement that would have condemned Israel’s attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria.

Several Iranian airports, including Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International, have cancelled flights until Monday, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

“All flights from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport have been cancelled until 6 a.m. (0230 GMT) following an announcement by Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation,” the airport’s executive told the Iranian Student news agency.

Domestic flights from Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport and airports in Shiraz, Isfahan, Bushehr, Kerman, Ilam, and Sanandaj have also been cancelled until Monday morning, according to Iran’s Airports and Air Navigation Company, as the country’s western airspace remains off limits to flights.

Major airlines across the Middle East have announced the cancellation of some of their flights, while having to reroute others, though Israel reopened its airspace as of 7:30am local time on Sunday morning.

Beirut airport also reopened this morning and flights in and out of the Lebanese capital have reportedly resumed.

Tehran has warned it will strike again with greater force if Israel or the US retaliate for the Iranian strike on Israel by more 300 drones and missiles on Saturday night.

Jordan’s prime minister, Bisher Khasawneh, has warned that any escalation in the region would lead to “dangerous paths” after Iran launched hundreds of drones as well as cruise missiles towards Israel.

In remarks to the cabinet, Khasawneh said the country’s armed forces would confront any attempt by any party that sought to endanger the kingdom’s security.

Jordan, a staunch US ally, intercepted some flying objects that entered its airspace on Saturday night to ensure the safety of its citizens, a cabinet statement said on Sunday.

Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel, had readied air defences to intercept any drones or missiles that violated its territory, two regional security sources told Reuters.

At least 33,729 Palestinians have been killed and 76,371 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

There have been 43 Palestinians killed and 62 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

Most of the casualties have been women and children, the health ministry has said, and thousands more bodies are likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.

Most of the Iranian drones flying over Syria’s airspace during Tehran’s strikes overnight were downed by Israeli and US jets before reaching their targets in Israel, two western intelligence sources told Reuters.

They said the aerial interceptions shot down dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran that flew above southern Syria in the Deraa province, the Syrian Golan Heights and several locations in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq.

US air defences operated from the American base in al-Tanf, as well as along the Jordanian border and in eastern Syria, where Washington maintains hundred of troops in several airbases, one source said.

The Pantsir air defence systems that Iran operates from several airbases inside Syria were ineffective in downing any Israeli aircraft, both sources added, without giving further details.

Defences sources told the Guardian that British RAF Typhoons are understood to have been involved in shooting down Iranian drones over Syria and Iraq overnight (see earlier post at 08.28 for more details).

The New York Times is quoting two Israeli officials who say that, in total, Iran launched 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 surface-to-surface missiles.

Iran launched its attack in response to a suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April that killed officers of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack.