Israel attacked an Iran facility with drones: According to a U.S. official, Israel appears to have been responsible for a drone attack that occurred overnight on an Iranian military facility.
Iran claimed to have intercepted drones and prevented harm and substantial damage to a target in the military sector near the capital city of Isfahan.
Independent measurement of the damage’s extent was impossible. However, state-run Iranian television published a video of a sky flash and rescue trucks at the location.
An Israeli military official declined to comment. Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy, has long threatened to attack Iranian targets if diplomacy fails to rein in Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs. However, it has a policy of refraining from commenting on particular cases.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said no American military personnel was involved in any strikes in Iran but he would not elaborate.
“U.S. Officials Point to Israeli Involvement in Attack on Iranian Nuclear Site”
U.S. officials were first mentioned as pointing to Israeli complicity in the attack by The Wall Street Journal, which cited several unnamed sources. It does seem as though Israel was involved, a U.S. official told Reuters while speaking on the record. Other American officials, on the other hand, refrained from commenting beyond stating that Washington had no influence.
Hossein Amirabdollahian described the attack, which Tehran did not publicly blame, as “cowardly” and aimed at spreading “insecurity” in Iran. State TV, meanwhile, aired remarks made by Hossein Mirzaie, a politician, who claimed there was “strong conjecture” Israel was responsible.
The strike occurred amid hostilities between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, its provision of weapons, including long-range “suicide drones,” for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, as well as months of domestic anti-government protests.
Independent confirmation of the damage’s scope was not possible. The incident, according to Iran’s Defense Ministry, did not result in any fatalities or significant property damage.
According to Amirabdollahian, in broadcast remarks, “Such acts will not affect our scientists’ commitment to proceed in our peaceful nuclear program.”
“Iranian Nuclear Site Strike Amid Hostilities, No Fatalities or Significant Damage”
The strike occurred amid hostilities between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, its provision of weapons, including long-range “suicide drones,” for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, as well as months of domestic anti-government protests.
Independent confirmation of the damage’s scope was not possible. The incident, according to Iran’s Defense Ministry, did not result in any fatalities or significant property damage.
According to Amirabdollahian, in broadcast remarks, “Such acts will not affect our scientists’ commitment to proceed in our peaceful nuclear program.
“Minor Injury”
The Defence Ministry announced on state TV that micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) attempted an attack on one of its workshop facilities at 23:30 (2000 GMT) on Saturday night but failed.
It stated that two drones were trapped in defense traps and blew up, and one was shot down. It barely slightly harmed a workshop building’s roof. Zero people lost their lives.
The military official in the area concluded that the strike, with its central Iranian location and large drones, likely originated from within Iranian territory.
Separately, IRNA reported an enormous fire early on Sunday at a motor oil business in an industrial area close to the city of Tabriz in the northwest. Later, it quoted a local authority and claimed that the fire was caused by an oil spill.
Iran charged Israel with organizing strikes in Iran using Iranian agents. In July, according to Tehran, a gang of Kurdish terrorists working for Israel who planned to blow up a “critical” defense industry center in Isfahan was detained.
Isfahan Province is home to several Iranian nuclear facilities, including Natanz, the main facility for Iran’s uranium enrichment program that Iran accuses Israel of sabotage in 2021. In recent years, there have been several explosions and fires around Iranian industrial, nuclear, and military sites.
Since September, negotiations to resurrect the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 have stalled. Tehran consented to restrict its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions under the agreement, which Washington abandoned in 2018 under then-President Trump.
The death in jail of a woman held for allegedly defying the stringent Islamic dress code caused huge anti-establishment protests, which sparked internal unrest within Iran’s clerical ruling elite.