Iran and Israel won’t stop fighting, but World War Three has been averted – for now

Iran’s surprisingly solemn response to Israel’s retaliatory airstrike could be seen as a hopeful sign that points to an end to the tit-for-tat escalation – or something far more foreboding, says Mary Dejevsky

Iranians protest in Tehran after Israel’s ‘limited’ attack on a strategically important military air base in Isfahan (AP)

From the early hours of this morning, a blizzard of reports spoke of an attack on an airbase near Isfahan, in central Iran. Such an attack was hardly unexpected. For all the appeals, from the US, the UK, and many others, Israel had left no doubt that it would mount a military response to Iran’s failed assault the week before.

What appeared to be a finely targeted raid on a complex believed to have been involved in Iran’s attack – a raid, what is more, carried out on the Iranian Supreme Leader’s birthday – could well have been it.

Except that, in the cold hard light of day, Iran denied there had been any attack at all.