Bomb-laden drones attacked a military factory in the heart of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, authorities said Sunday, causing a large explosion and minor damage to the facility.
The incident served as the latest flashpoint in rising tensions over the country’s nuclear program and its supply of drones to Russia: the news sparked a celebratory reaction in Kyiv that earned its own rebuke from Tehran on Monday.
There was no immediate word on who might have carried out the attack, but attention quickly turned to Israel, which has been engaged in a shadow war with the Islamic Republic and is suspected of being behind a series of similar attacks in the last years.
‘Defensive traps’
Iran’s Defense Ministry confirmed that one of its workshop complexes had been attacked on Saturday by several micro-aircraft vehicles (MAVs), but said the complex’s air defenses had successfully repelled the attack.
A loud explosion was heard at the military plant in Isfahan, but a security official said there were no casualties, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said on its website on Sunday.
«The explosion took place at one of the Defense Ministry’s munitions manufacturing centers and according to an announcement by the Isfahan Governorate’s deputy political and security chief,» IRIB reported, without elaborating.
Three bomb-equipped quadcopters were used in the attack, Iran’s Defense Ministry said in a statement shared with IRIB.
“One of the MAVs was shot down by air defense fire from the complex, while the other two became caught in their defensive traps and exploded,” the statement said.
The ministry said the failed attack did not cause any loss of life and caused only minor damage to the roof of a workshop. The complex, he added, is continuing its normal operations after the attack.
Eyewitness video verified by NBC News shows a small explosion and plumes of gray smoke rising as cars pass a geolocated home furnishings store on Imam Khomeini Highway in Isfahan.
At a press conference on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian described the attack as «cowardly» and assured the public that such attacks will have no effect on the country’s overall march towards progress. according to the Tasnim news agency.
Israel is widely believed to be behind a growing list of incidents such as drone strikes that have hit Iranian military and nuclear targets in recent years. Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently returned as Israel’s prime minister, has long viewed Iran as a serious threat.
A spokesman for both the Israel Defense Forces and the CIA declined to comment.
Talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers have collapsed amid the regime’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters, raising fears over the development of the country’s nuclear program.
The attack comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarks on a three-day visit to the Middle East, already fraught with concerns about the possibility of an escalation after spiraling violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem. busy. Washington and Israel also held a massive joint military exercise last week.
In Ukraine, where Russia has been using Iranian-supplied drones to strike civilian targets in cities far from the front lines, news of the incident prompted an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to draw a link between the two.
“The logic of war is inexorable and murderous. Strictly bill perpetrators and accomplices,” Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelenskyy adviser. tweeted on Sunday. “Explosive night in Iran: production of drones and missiles, oil refineries. [Ukraine] I warned you.
Reacting to Podolyak’s comments, Iran summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires to Tehran on Monday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Russia’s foreign ministry on Monday condemned Sunday’s drone attack on its growing ally and warned against «unpredictable consequences» that could exacerbate an already precarious situation.
«Such destructive actions could have unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East,» Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
IranRussian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian acknowledged last November that his country had supplied drones to Russia, insisting the transfer came before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.