Israel Strikes Iran Amid International Push to Contain Tehran; Israel Drone Strike Hit Iranian Weapons Facility

Israel Strikes Iran Amid International Push to Contain Tehran:

Israel carried out a drone strike targeting a defense compound in Iran, as the U.S. and Israel look for new ways to contain Tehran’s nuclear and military ambitions, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the operation.

Iranian officials said that the country’s air defenses had fended off an attempted attack by three small quadcopters targeting a munitions factory in the city of Isfahan, right next to a site belonging to the Iran Space Research Center, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its work on Iran’s ballistic-missile program.

Iran said its air defenses brought down one of the drones while the two others exploded above the warehouse, causing minor damage to the roof.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called the blast a cowardly strike.

“Such actions cannot impact the determination and intent of our experts for peaceful nuclear progress,” he said, according to government news service PadDolat.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

The strike marks the first known attack carried out by Israel under the new far-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who sanctioned a series of bold operations inside Iran when he last served in that role from 2009 to 2021.

Israel’s latest strike comes as Israeli and American officials are discussing new ways to combat Iran’s destabilizing operations, including its deepening military cooperation with Russia. —>READ MORE HERE

Israel Drone Strike Hit Iranian Weapons Facility:

An Israeli drone strike inside Iran hit an advanced weapons-production facility in an attack that Israel believes achieved its goals, according to people familiar with discussions about the operation.

The operation early Sunday morning was executed by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and targeted a Ministry of Defense site in Isfahan in central Iran, hitting a building in four different areas with precision strikes, the people said. Satellite photos showed what appeared to be minor damage to the site’s roof, but the people called the mission successful, without elaborating.

The account contradicts Iranian officials who have said the country’s air defenses had fended off an attempted attack on an ammunition depot that caused minimal damage.

The attack marked another chapter in the long-running conflict between Israel and Iran, with Israel using sabotage, assassination and drone strikes to target Iran’s nuclear program and its conventional weapons capabilities, and Iran arming militias along Israel’s borders.

The people said the Ministry of Defense site that was targeted Sunday was a weapons-production facility. It stands across the street from a site belonging to the Iran Space Research Center, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its work on Iran’s ballistic-missile program. The space-research center houses the Institute for Materials and Energy, which conducts research that could be used in the development of drones, missiles, satellites and for testing metals for the nuclear project, said Ronen Solomon, an independent intelligence analyst in Israel.

On Monday, Iranian state media published fragments of the small drones used in the strike. If authentic, the depicted drones are most likely Chinese-made quadcopter drones with limited range that may have been launched from within Iran, given their small size and Isfahan’s location hundreds of miles from its country’s borders, said Tal Beeri, head of the Alma Center Research Department in Israel and a former Israeli military intelligence officer.

“By the way, you can order it online,” Mr. Beeri said of the drones. —>READ MORE HERE

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