U.S. denies Iran gave 72 hours' notice of attack on Israel

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD/DUBAI (Reuters) -- Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said on Sunday that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but U.S. officials said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage.

Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.

Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighboring countries and Israeli ally the United States 72 hours' notice it would launch the strikes.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had spoken to both Washington and Tehran before the attack, adding it had conveyed messages as an intermediary to be sure reactions were proportionate.

"Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel's attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this. We were aware of the possibilities. The developments were not a surprise," said a Turkish diplomatic source.

One senior official in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration denied Amirabdollahian's statement, saying Washington did have contact with Iran through Swiss intermediaries but did not get notice 72 hours in advance.

"That is absolutely not true," the official said. "They did not give a notification, nor did they give any sense of ... 'these will be the targets, so evacuate them.'"

Tehran sent the United States a message only after the strikes began, and the intent was to be "highly destructive" said the official, adding that Iran's claim