Iran: Drone Strike on Military Factory Blamed on Israel

Iranian officials are accusing Israel of being responsible for a thwarted drone attack targeting a military factory, which the latter did not confirm or deny having any involvement.

The news was broken by a United States official on Sunday and comes as Iran claims that it was able to intercept the drones that struck a military industry target located near the city of Isfahan, adding that there were no casualties or serious damage.

Alleged Israeli Drone Strikes on Iran

While the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed, Iranian state media released footage that showed a flash in the sky and emergency vehicles at the scene. Also, a spokesperson for the Israeli military did not respond to requests for comments regarding the incident.

For a long time, Israel said that it was willing to strike Iranian targets if authorities fail through diplomatic means in their attempts to curb Iran's nuclear or missile programs. However, it has a policy of not making any comments on specific incidents, as per Reuters.

On the other hand, spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said that there were no American military forces involved in the strikes in Iran but also declined to comment further. There were early reports citing unidentified sources that said U.S. officials were looking at Israeli involvement with the attack.

However, another American official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that this was not the case and that Israel did not have any involvement. Furthermore, Tehran did not specifically ascribe blame for what Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called a "cowardly" strike that sought to create "insecurity" in Iran.

But one Iranian lawmaker, Hossein Mirzaie, spoke through a state TV broadcast, saying that there was "strong speculation" that Israeli forces were behind the attack. The incident comes amid rising tension between Iran and the West over the former's nuclear activity and supply of arms to Russia.

Shadow War

Iran is under suspicion of supplying hundreds of drones to Russia that are being used in the invasion of Ukraine, said a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In a Twitter post, the aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that it was an "explosive night" in Iran, adding that they previously issued warnings of such an act, according to Aljazeera.

The defense ministry of Iran did not comment on who it believes was responsible for the attack on the military infrastructures. However, the country has been the target of alleged Israeli strikes amid a shadow war with its Middle East rival over the nuclear deal situation.

A statement released by the ministry described three drones that were launched at the facility, two of which were successfully shot down by defending forces. The third allegedly made it past defenses to strike the building, which resulted in minor damage and injury to one person.

Under the rule of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the country has also started to target Iranian defense and military officials and key infrastructure. The official called the situation the "octopus doctrine" of striking inside its rival nation to damage its capacity that he said sought to arm proxy militias in the region that were hostile to the Jewish state, said the New York Times.

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Iran, Drone strike, Israel