Secretary of state Antony Blinken has said the United States was not involved in any “offensive operations” in the apparent Israeli drone attack in Iran.

But he declined to respond to claims that Israel gave the US advance notice of the action.

“I’m not going to speak to that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations,” Mr Blinken said.

Earlier, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had told reporters that the US had briefed Group of Seven ministers in a closed-door session that it had received a last-minute warning from Israel about the attack.

Mr Tajani said: “There was no sharing of the attack by the US. It was a mere information.”