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Screenshot of an eyewitness video: The explosion is said to have occurred near Isfahan
Photo: WANA NEWS AGENCY / via REUTERS
A military facility near the Iranian city of Isfahan was attacked by drones overnight.
Images of a massive explosion are circulating on social media.
Iran's defense ministry plays the incident down: the security forces stationed in the complex managed to repel the attack, only the roof of the building had "slight damage".
Western intelligence services celebrated the attack as a "phenomenal success," writes the Jerusalem Post.
There were four explosions and the damage was far worse than the Islamic Republic claims.
The Wall Street Journal also claims to have learned from "people familiar with the operation" that Israel was behind the attacks.
Iran's foreign minister indirectly confirmed that the attack was aimed at the country's controversial nuclear program: "Such actions will not affect our experts' determination to advance our peaceful nuclear work," Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in a televised statement.
He spoke of a "cowardly act" aimed at "making Iran more insecure."
A press release from Iran's state agency Irna said the building had previously been attacked in a similar manner.
The security forces stationed on site would have recognized the approaching drones by the noise.
Two of the drones were destroyed while still in the air, one was shot down and the remains are now in the hands of Iranian security forces.
These are "three advanced quadrocopters equipped with bombs," i.e. drones equipped with four rotors.
Israel rarely confirms operations conducted by the country's secret military units or the Mossad intelligence agency, and also declined to comment on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recently reinstated as prime minister, has long viewed Iran as his country's greatest threat.
Growing tensions with Iran are said to have been the background to the major military exercise that Israel and the United States launched a few days ago.
The government of Ukraine, meanwhile, made a connection to the fighting in their country.
»War logic is merciless & murderous.
She consistently holds the authors & accomplices accountable," tweeted Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak.
»Explosive night in Iran - drone and missile production, oil refineries.
They warned you.” Ukraine has accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia to attack civilian targets in Ukrainian cities far from the front lines.
Were there any other attacks?
There are said to have been other explosions in other parts of the country, but this has not yet been officially confirmed.
Iranian state television reported a fire at an oil refinery in an industrial area near the northwestern city of Tabriz.
The cause is not yet known.
Iran has several nuclear research facilities in the Isfahan region.
In April 2021, Tehran announced that production of uranium enriched to 60 percent had started at the Natans site in Isfahan province.
Uranium enriched to 90 percent is required to produce a nuclear bomb.
According to experts, Iran could increase the fissile purity of its uranium to this quality in a short time.
However, the country would probably need years to build a suitable warhead.
In recent years, Tehran has accused Israel of several covert actions on Iranian soil, including the killing of scientist Mohsen Fakhrisadeh.
The nuclear physicist was killed in an attack on his car near Tehran in November 2020.
Israel has never commented on the killing.
Negotiations on the international nuclear deal with Iran have been stuck for months.
The agreement, agreed in 2015, was intended to limit Iran's nuclear program and ensure that the country would not build nuclear weapons.
It was negotiated by the USA, China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Iran.
However, under the then US President Donald Trump, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on Tehran.
As a result, Iran also gradually withdrew from its obligations under the agreement and restricted inspections of its facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
vet/Reuters/AP