The Israeli military carried out the attack in retaliation for Tehran’s drone and rocket fire last weekend, the Washington Post reported Friday, citing an unnamed Israeli government official. The US was not involved but was informed by Israel, an insider said.
The Islamic Republic has no immediate plans to retaliate, according to a senior official. According to his account, it is not yet clear who is behind the incident. “The foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed,” the Iranian official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters on Friday. There was no “external attack” on Iran, he added. “The discussion tends more towards infiltration than attack.”
An Iranian expert also expressed the suspicion on state television that the drones had been launched within the country by “infiltrators”. He spoke of mini-drones that had been shot down by air defense near the city of Isfahan. The Iranian television station Press TV reports, citing informed sources, that there was no attack from abroad on Iranian cities such as Isfahan.
According to US military expert Cedric Leighton, Israel has proven that the Iranian air defense system does not have anywhere near the capabilities of the Israeli air defense system with the action, which was “clearly a direct response to the Iranian attacks over the weekend.”
Several US media outlets had previously reported that one or more Israeli missiles had attacked a target in Iran. There were initially no reports of damage. Israel and the US Department of Defense have not yet commented. Iranian state media rejected reports of rocket attacks. However, they reported sighting and firing at several smaller flying objects over the Iranian province of Isfahan.
Fox News reported, citing a military source, that it was a “limited attack.” The US was not involved and the Israelis informed the US government in advance.
Iranian state television reported that three drones were spotted over Isfahan shortly after midnight. The air defense then destroyed these drones. The station later reported that the situation in Isfahan was normal and that there had been no explosions on the ground. An Iranian government official also told the Reuters news agency that the explosions near Isfahan were due to the activation of air defenses. There was no rocket attack, he emphasized.
The Tasnim news agency reported that the air traffic regulator had lifted flight restrictions in several cities. At the same time, the Iranian government rejected reports that the Security Council had met for an emergency meeting.
The Israeli military did not initially comment. Israel announced a response to the Iranian airstrike at the weekend. Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and rockets on Sunday night. The background was a suspected Israeli-led attack on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus, in which two generals of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed at the beginning of April.
Important facilities for the Iranian defense industry are located in Isfahan. The country’s largest nuclear research center is also located in the cultural city. According to the radio, there was no danger to the nuclear facilities there. Like many Western countries, Israel fears that Iran could use nuclear technology under the guise of research and power generation to produce nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed. No Iranian nuclear facilities were damaged, the organization reported in Vienna on Friday. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi continues to “call on everyone to exercise extreme restraint,” said a statement on X (formerly Twitter). Nuclear facilities should never be targets in military conflicts, he emphasized.