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US and Iran had contact ‘through Swiss intermediaries’ ahead of attack

Rocket attack
The Israeli air defence system launches to intercept missiles fired from Iran on Sunday KEYSTONE/Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The United States had contact with Iran through Swiss intermediaries both before and after Tehran’s mass drone and missile attack on Israeli territory, a senior Biden administration official said on Sunday.

The official declined to provide details on the contact, saying only that the US and Iran had “a series of direct communications through the Swiss channel”.

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Asked about comments by Iran’s foreign minister that Tehran had given regional countries 72 hours’ notice of the attacks, the official said that was not true.

“They did not give a notification,” the official said. “They were clearly intending to destroy and to cause casualties.”

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