Iran opens fire on alleged Israeli attack drones close to the nuclear and air base in Isfahan.
Early on Friday morning, Iran launched air defenses near the Iranian capital of Isfahan after identifying drones that were thought to be part of an Israeli operation in revenge for Tehran’s massive drone and missile assault. The targets of the strikes were a major air base and a nuclear complex.
The Israeli military declined to comment when contacted, and no Iranian official explicitly confirmed that Israel may have attacked.But since Israel’s attack on Saturday, amid its own strikes against Iran in Syria and its own conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, emotions have been high.
As of early Friday, American TV networks had reported, citing anonymous U.S. authorities, that Israel was the attack’s perpetrator. However, U.S. officials had declined to comment. The attack, which occurred on the 85th birthday of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reported by anonymous Israeli sources to the New York Times. Politicians in Israel also made remarks that seemed to imply that the nation had attacked. According to official media, air defense batteries in multiple regions opened fire in response to allegations of drone activity. According to Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander of the Iranian army, personnel targeted multiple flying objects.
According to Mousavi, “the explosion that occurred this morning in the skies over Isfahan was caused by air defense systems firing at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage.” Some speculated that the drones might be small, commercially available quadcopters, which have four rotors.
The Isfahan plant manages the manufacturing of fuel and other activities for Iran’s civilian nuclear program in addition to running three small research reactors donated by China. Sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program are also located in Isfahan, including the subterranean Natanz enrichment complex, which has been the focus of multiple alleged Israeli sabotage strikes.All of the nearby nuclear installations were characterized as “fully safe” by state television. Following the incident, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, declared that “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.” Reiterating that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military situations, the IAEA “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody.”