The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

After Israeli strike in Iran, both sides appear to downplay incident

The muted response raised hopes in the U.S. and elsewhere that, after weeks of violence, the threat of a full-blown war had begun to recede

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Updated April 19, 2024 at 2:40 p.m. EDT|Published April 19, 2024 at 3:58 a.m. EDT
Iranians in Tehran on Tuesday drive past a huge anti-Israel billboard carrying pictures of Iranian missiles with a caption that translates to “Israel is weaker than a spider's web.” (Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
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JERUSALEM — Israel and Iran appeared Friday to back away from full-blown war after weeks of escalation, as a limited Israeli military strike received a muted response from Tehran.

The nighttime operation, in the vicinity of a military facility and nuclear labs located in central Iran, seemed designed to send a message to Tehran without triggering an immediate backlash, dampening an increasingly volatile tit-for-tat spate of attacks in recent weeks. Iranian authorities said almost immediately that no damage was caused by the Israeli strike in the central province of Isfahan and that reported explosions were just antiaircraft measures.