SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — For nearly a week, the Middle East and much of the world were on a knife’s edge, waiting for a promised Israeli retaliation to the April 13 attacks carried out by Iran. When the response came early Friday, in the form of drone strikes near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and Tabriz, there was a collective sigh of relief in Washington, the capitals of Europe and in the Middle East as well.
The Israelis hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran, and Iranian officials said another group of drones had been shot down in the Tabriz region, some 500 miles north of Isfahan. But Iran reported no Israeli warplanes in its airspace, no heavy bombings, and only minimal damage. Perhaps as important, there were no inflammatory statements from either side. For the moment at least, it appeared the much-feared escalation and wider war had been avoided.
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