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

Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call that he does not want further escalation of tension in the region after Iran’s drone and missile attack against Israel.

Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, told Fidan that its “retaliatory operation” against Israel had ended, adding that Iran would not launch a new operation unless it was attacked, Turkish diplomatic sources said.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has condemned Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, calling for efforts to prevent a further escalation in Middle East conflict.

“Iran’s actions threaten the entire region and the world, just as Russia’s actions threaten a larger conflict, and the obvious collaboration between the two regimes in spreading terror must face a resolute and united response from the world,” he wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

He said the sound of drones – “a tool of terror” - is the same in the skies over the Middle East and Europe, and called for direct action, saying: “The world cannot wait for discussions to go on. Words do not stop drones and do not intercept missiles. Only tangible assistance does.

“We must strengthen security and resolutely counter all those who want to make terror a new normal.”

Iran has supplied thousands of Shahed kamikaze drones to Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine. These have been used to exhaust Ukrainian air defences and hit infrastructure far from the front lines.

Zelenskiy repeated his call for the US Congress to pass a stalled bill which would provide billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine and Israel.

“It is critical that the United States Congress make the necessary decisions to strengthen America’s allies at this critical time,” he said.

Yemen’s armed Houthi movement said that Iran’s attack on Israel was “a legitimate act” in response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April.

A Houthi spokesperson added that the Yemeni group had been in “direct confrontation” with Israel since 7 October, by attacking the southern Israeli port of Eilat with missiles and drones, and by preventing Israeli ships from sailing through the Red Sea.

For more context, read our explainer on who the Houthis are and their relationship with Iran and the war in Gaza:

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said its neighbours were notified of its retaliatory strikes on Israel 72 hours in advance.

“About 72 hours prior to our operations, we informed our friends and neighbours in the region that Iran’s response against Israel was certain, legitimate and irrevocable,” Amirabdollahian said at a press conference.

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said Iran’s overnight attack on Israel had taken the Middle East to the “edge of a precipice” and called for restraint.

She said Tehran had “plunged an entire region into chaos” and the spiralling tensions needed to end, AP reports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz denounced a “grave escalation” and underlined Berlin’s “solidarity” with Israel.

He told reporters during a visit to China that “we cannot but call on everyone, in particular Iran, to not continue along this path.”

Iran informed the US that its attacks against Israel will be “limited” and for self-defence, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran on Sunday.

Israel said Iran launched 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles early on Sunday in an attack that set off air raid sirens across the country (see earlier post at 11:53 for more details).

The assault was launched in response to a strike widely blamed on Israel on an Iranian consular building in Syria at the start of April which killed two Iranian generals.

It marks the first time a direct military assault has been launched by Tehran on Israel despite enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

RAF jets shot down “a number of” attack drones after Iran launched its attack on Israel, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has confirmed.

Sunak is set to join other G7 leaders on a call on Sunday amid fears of further escalation in the event of a possible Israeli counter-strike.

Speaking to journalists in Downing Street, he said if Iran’s attack on Israel been successful “the fallout for regional stability would be hard to overstate”, as he confirmed RAF pilots shot down “a number of” drones.

Sunak called Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel a “dangerous and unnecessary escalation”, which he says he condemns in the “strongest terms”.

He concluded by urging “calm heads to prevail” and said he would be working with allies to “de-escalate the situation”.

Britain has offered staunch support for Israel, with the UK’s Ministry of Defence saying RAF warplanes in Iraq and Syria had been deployed to intercept “any airborne attacks within range of our existing missions”.

• 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. The air raids, the Islamic Republic’s first ever direct attack on the Israeli state, brought a years-long shadow war into the open and threatened to draw the region into a broader conflagration as Israel said it was considering its response.

• Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said that 99% of the launches had been intercepted, declaring that “the Iranian attack was foiled”. While 170 drones and 30 cruise missiles were shot down before they reached Israel, a few of the 110 ballistic missiles did get through, the Israeli army said, with 12 people suffering injuries. Among the injured was a young girl near the southern Israeli town of Arad who was in intensive care, according to the medical centre that received her.

• 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. The Jordanian air force also intercepted some of the projectiles over its territory, and the UK’s Royal Air Force said it was contributing fighters and refuelling planes, mostly to fill in for the US in conducting aerial patrols over Iraq and Syria as part of its campaign against the so-called Islamic State.

• As of Sunday morning, Israeli officials indicated no decision had been made about a response to the Iranian attack, as an official said any potential response would be discussed at the war cabinet meeting. Israel’s war cabinet, comprising Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Benny Gantz, is due to meet at 3:30pm (1230 GMT) to discuss a response to the attack.

• The UN security council will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday, at the request of Israel’s ambassador to the UN, the council’s president said in a statement to media.

• Jordan’s prime minister, Bisher Khasawneh, warned that any escalation in the region would lead to “dangerous paths”. Other countries including the UK, Spain, the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China, have called for restraint amid fears of a regional escalation of conflict across the Middle East. 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.

• Several Iranian airports, including Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International, have cancelled flights until Monday, Iranian state media reported on Sunday. 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. Israel, however, said it had reopened its airspace as of 7:30am local time on Sunday morning, with Beirut airport also reopening this morning.

• A growing chorus of US congressional leaders are calling for the supplemental aid bill to be passed, with US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer saying it was the clearest way to help Israel. The $95bn supplemental spending bill includes $14bn for Israel, in addition to $60bn for Ukraine and support for Taiwan. It was passed by the Senate with 70% support in February but has been blocked in the House.

Pope Francis has made a “pressing appeal” against a “spiral of violence” after Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, warning of a potential regional conflagration.

“I make a pressing appeal for an end to any action which could fuel a spiral of violence that risks dragging the Middle East into an even greater conflict,” the pontiff said after his traditional Sunday prayer in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

“I am praying and following with concern, but also pain, the news that has come in recent hours about the worsening situation in Israel due to Iran’s intervention,” the pope told worshippers.

“No one should threaten the existence of others. All countries must, however, side with peace and help Israelis and Palestinians to live in two states, side by side and in security,” he said.

“That is their right,” Francis insisted as he once again repeated earlier calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and “negotiation.”

The pontiff furthermore demanded the world “help the population facing a humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and urged the “immediate release of the hostages kidnapped months ago” by Hamas.

Lt Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesperson, has told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme: “I know that around 360 various different munitions, 170 explosive drones, 30 cruise missiles, 120 ballistic missiles were fired towards Israel.”

“The vast majority of those were intercepted,” he added. These figures have not yet been independently verified.