By Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran did not provide warnings to the United States last week about its timeframe for launching an attack on Israel or its potential targets, the White House said on Monday.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby (NYSE:KEX) told reporters that the United States did exchange messages with Iran but that there were never any messages regarding Iran's timeframe or targets for its weekend attack.
Kirby would not be drawn into explaining what the messages were about. He said that reports suggesting Iran tipped off the United States about its plans were "categorically false" and "malarkey."
"Iran never gave us a message giving us the time or the targets," said Kirby. "This whole narrative out there that Iran passed us a message about what they were going to do is ridiculous."
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.
Iranian sources told Reuters last week Tehran signalled to Washington that it would respond to Israel's attack on its Syrian embassy in a way that aims to avoid major escalation and it will not act hastily.
A U.S. official said late last Thursday that the United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war.