Middle East latest: Worshippers in Tehran chant 'death to Israel' after strike; man 'carrying explosives' arrested at Iranian consulate in Paris (2024)

A short while ago, we brought you news of a man arrested in Paris who was threatening to blow himself up at the Iranian consulate.

Police searches have now found he was not carrying explosives.

A police source told Reuters news agency the man was seen at about 11am local time entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest.

The area was cordoned off, and the man was arrested after leaving the consulate.

French TV channel BFM said the man was carrying replica grenades.

A police source said the same man was suspected of attempted arson near the Iranian consulate in an incident last September.

Le Parisien newspaper said on its website that, according to several witnesses, the man had dragged flags on the floor of the consulate and said he wanted to avenge the death of his brother.

It is unclear whether the incident is linked to the current tensions between Iran and Israel.

The US was given a last-minute warning from Israel about the drone attack against Iran, according to Italy's foreign minister.

Although the US has been tight-lipped over the matter, Italy's Antonio Tajani said American officials briefed G7 ministers in a closed-door session.

"There was no sharing of the attack by the US," he said.

"It was mere information."

Mr Tajani, who was chairing the meeting, said the US provided the information at a session this morning that was changed at the last minute to address the suspected attack.

"There is a group of Italians who live in the city where the drones arrived and everyone is okay, they say that life has restarted regularly," he added.

Worshippers in Tehran have gathered at a demonstration just hours after an apparent Israeli strike in Iran.

People chanted "death to Israel", "death to America" and "death to Zionists", while waving Iranian and Palestinian flags.

One man said:"They (Israelis) didn't do anything special, based off what I heard from news agencies.

"I don't think they have the courage to do anything after Iran's successful strike."

Israel has not commented on this morning's attack but sources have told our US partner NBC News that it was behind the strike.

It was launched in retaliation to Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel last weekend, which came after two of its generals were killed in a strike on its embassy in Syria on 1 April.

A man has been arrested at the Iranian consulate in Paris after claiming to be carrying explosives, our French partner network BFM reports.

French police earlier cordoned off the building after reports of a "suspicious man".

A Paris police official said the man was spotted around 11 am local time (9am UK time) and officers launched a special operation as soon as they were alerted.

The man's motives were not immediately clear.

Special intervention police have been mobilised to deal with the incident, it added.

We are still waiting for official confirmation from Iran that this attack was carried out from Israel.

Throughout the day, Iranian officials appear to be playing down the strike, telling reporters explosions were caused by its air defence system, there has been no damage caused and its forces only fired at a "suspicious object".

However, US officials have confirmed to a number of Western media outlets that Israel launched a strike in retaliation to Iran's 1 April attack in the early hours of this morning.

Our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn has explained why Iran is "playing down" the attack.

He says Tehran's response has been "very telling".

"Before this, the Iranians said the tiniest invasion, the tiniest provocation will lead to a harsh response," he adds.

"So if they accepted or admitted there has been some kind of attack on their country then they will feel behoven to respond to it.

"The fact that they are playing it down I think looks like they're sticking to the scripts that Israel and Western allies will be relieved by."

Iran's air defence systems fired at a "suspicious object" over the central city of Isfahan in response to this morning's apparent Israeli attack, a senior army commander has said.

General Siavash Mihandoost told Iranian state television: "It caused no damage or incident at all."

"The sound heard early in the morning today in Isfahan was not an explosion, it was our powerful air defence firing at a suspicious object," he added.

The attack saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site near the city, according to Iranian officials.

It came nearly a week after Tehran launched a drone and missile assault on Israel following a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in southern Syria.

Israel had vowed to respond to Iran's unprecedented weekend attack, leaving the region bracing for further escalation after months of fighting in Gaza.

However, the Israeli military has still not commented on today's attack.

Sky News will host a special programme live from Jerusalem tonight, examining the apparent attack on Iran by Israel.

You will be able to watch Israel Attack with Yalda Hakim on Sky News at 5pm and 9pm.

The US Secretary of State has said he can see a future for Israel in which a "coalition of countries are working together to deal with the Iranian threat and to isolate it".

Antony Blinken said that would involve Israel being "integrated into the region with normal relations with its neighbours".

There also needs to be a "resolution to the Palestinian question", he added, which is "necessary to really deep root and achieve that coalition".

He went on: "It deals with the single biggest threat to Israel's security - and, for that matter, to the security of most countries in the region and our own - which is Iran and its proxies.

"But to get there, it's going to require calm in Gaza and it's going to require a clear pathway to a Palestinian state."

Antony Blinken has been asked why he's refusing to comment on the apparent Israeli attack on Iran in the early hours of this morning.

He responds: "I am going to be incredibly boring and not make your day by saying again I am not going to speak on what's been reported."

He also reiterates the line he's been saying throughout the conference: "The United States has not been involved in any offensive operations."

The US "cannot support a major military operation in Rafah", Antony Blinken says.

Taking questions from reporters, the US secretary of state is asked about the Israeli military's apparent plans to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city.

The idea has been widely condemned by the international community, with more than 1.4 million Palestinians currently living in the city and many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza.

"We believe a major military operation with a large presence of a civilian population would have terrible consequences for the population," he says.

He adds that getting people out of harms way would be a "monumental task" and the US is yet to see a plan to evacuate them safely.

"We are committed as Israel is to ensuring that Gaza cannot be controlled by Hamas," he says, adding that the US believes this "can be achieved by other means".