Five days after Iran's attack on Israel, raising fears of a general conflagration in the Middle East,
"strong explosions"
were heard in Iran, near Isfahan, in the center of the country. While the Iranian government had warned Israel that any response would result in an immediate reaction, Israeli leaders appear to have chosen to react, without claiming responsibility for an attack for the moment.
Neither the Israeli war cabinet gathered after the attack by nearly 300 Iranian missiles and drones during the night from Saturday to Sunday, nor the IDF have yet made any comment. However, an American official confirmed to American television CNN that Israel had indeed carried out a strike in Iran.
Iranian state television said three drones were seen in the skies over Isfahan in the middle of the night, and that they were destroyed after the activation of the country's air defense system. Isfahan province is home to a large air base, a major missile production complex, and several nuclear sites. Do we know more about the sites targeted?
A military air base
Iran's Fars News Agency reported that three explosions were heard near the Iranian army's Shekari Air Base in the northwest city of Isfahan. The windows of several administrative buildings on the base were reportedly broken.
“The cause of these noises is still unknown and investigations are continuing until the exact details of the incident are determined
,” the news agency said.
This air base, presented as the 8th in the country, welcomed Russian Yak-130 training aircraft in September 2023. Other air bases were also built west of Isfahan, in the Zagros mountains, without their precise location being known.
The Aigle-44 base, images of which were revealed for the first time in May 2022, has the possibility of receiving fighter planes, bombers as well as drones. During the official presentation, state television specified that it was located
“several hundred meters deep in the heart of the mountains in order to be able to resist the bombs of the United States strategic bombers”
.
“Aigle-44 is one of the many underground tactical air bases of the Air Force built in different regions of the country in recent years
,” the Irna agency said.
Ammunition production site
The Isfahan region is also home to military munitions production sites. In January 2023, a “munitions manufacturing factory” was targeted by an attack by quadcopters, drones equipped with four rotors. A video widely distributed on social networks at the time showed a large explosion at the site and images of emergency vehicles then heading towards the area.
“Preliminary investigations show that the Zionist regime
(Israel, Editor's note)
is responsible for the terrorist attack against the production site of the Ministry of Defense
,” Amir Saeid Iravani said in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General. , Antonio Guterres.
Nuclear installations
The center of the country is also home to known nuclear research sites, including a uranium conversion plant, notably at Natanz and Fordo, approximately 120 and 250 km respectively north of Isfahan. The country's only nuclear power plant is in the south, located in the port city of Bushehr. And the nuclear installations based in the Isfahan region are
“totally safe”
, however, the Tasnim press agency clarified this Friday.
Attacks targeted the Natanz site in 2020 and 2021. It was on this site that Tehran announced, in April 2022, that it had started producing uranium enriched to 60% on the Natanz site, approaching 90%. % needed to make an atomic bomb.