The US is on high alert over the possibility of significant retaliation from Iran following a deadly airstrike in Syria, according to American officials.
It comes after the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vowed “our brave men will punish the Zionist regime” after an airstrike on a building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus killed seven members of the group on Monday.
Tehran has blamed Israel for the strike, though the Israeli military has refused to comment either to confirm or deny involvement.
US officials have said they are now concerned that Iran may be planning to hit targets inside Israel in retaliation, sparking another expansion of hostilities in the Middle East.
Speaking to NBC News – the US partner of Sky News – on condition of anonymity, two officials said any retaliation inside Israel was likely to focus on military or intelligence targets rather than civilians.
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From Monday: Iran blames Israel for deadly strike
One official said that Washington received a message from Iran following the strike, and “made clear” to Tehran in response that “we were not behind the strike”.
“We also warned Iran to not use the strike as a pretext to further escalate in the region or attack US facilities or personnel,” they added.
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The two officials also told NBC News that Iran could carry out an attack using a swarm of drones or land-attack cruise missiles against an Israeli diplomatic or consular facility.
Another official separately told CNN that “we’re definitely at a high state of vigilance” over the threat of retaliation.
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Iran said Monday’s strike targeted a consular building and therefore was considered an attack on Iran itself.
It said seven Iranian military advisers died in the attack, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.
Image: Mohammad Reza Zahedi and several other top Iranian military officials were killed in the strike in Damascus. Pic: Reuters
Image: The US officials are concerned retaliation from Iran could lead to a further escalation of conflict in the Middle East
On Thursday, the White House said US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the threat from Iran in a phone call.
“Our teams have been in regular and continuous contact since then. The United States fully supports the defence of Israel against threats from Iran,” a senior Biden administration official said.
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Mohammad Jamshidi, a top aide to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said on Friday that Tehran sent a message warning the US not to get involved in the fight between Israel and Iran.
He wrote on X that, in response, the US asked Iran not to target American facilities.
However, a US spokesperson for the National Security Council said the reports were “simply wrong” and “Iranian spin”.
Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.
Image: Vladimir Putin during his visit in the Kursk region on Tuesday. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Image: Mr Putin visited a nuclear power plant. Pic: Kremlin.ru/Reuters
Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.
More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.
The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.
The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.
Image: The Russian president met with volunteer organisations. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.
But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.
Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.
Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.
The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.
Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.
Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.
Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.
“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”
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Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.
A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.
Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.
Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.
Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he has “never had to buy rice” while the country struggles with shortages and rising costs of its staple grain.
Taku Eto offered his resignation to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday after he made the comments at a party seminar on Sunday.
Mr Eto said his supporters have always gifted him rice, meaning he does not have to buy it himself.
His comments immediately sparked a public backlash.
“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Mr Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.
He told the Kyodo news agency: “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not.
“Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.”
Opposition parties had threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against him if Mr Eto did not resign voluntarily by Wednesday afternoon.
Japan has been struggling with rice shortages since hot weather resulted in a poor harvest in 2023.
Image: The Japanese government’s emergency rice reserves in Saitama Prefecture in March. Pic: AP
More recently, a government preparedness warning ahead of a major earthquake last August prompted panic buying – squeezing supplies even further.
Politicians have also blamed the rising cost of fertiliser and other related goods.
The crisis has seen the government release vast quantities of rice from its emergency stockpiles for the first time.
In April, Japan also imported the grain from South Korea for the first time in 25 years in a further bid to boost supplies and lower prices.
But shelf prices have continued to rise, reaching 4,268 yen (£22) per 5kg in the week to 11 May – double what it was a year ago.
Mr Eto has been replaced by Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister who ran unsuccessfully against the prime minister for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last year.
The rice crisis is placing further strain on Mr Ishiba’s minority government – ahead of the country’s upcoming elections in July.