Israel behind drone strike on Iranian military site: US officials

Israel was behind the overnight drone attack on a military site in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported citing US officials and people familiar with the operation.

Tehran said on Saturday its air defenses intercepted a drone attack using “quadcopters” targeting a ministry of defense munitions factory in the city of Isfahan. One of the drones was brought down, while the other two exploded above the facility causing “minor damage” to the roof, the ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein AmirAbdollahian described the explosion as a “cowardly” attack aimed at spreading “insecurity” in Iran, according to official media.

“Such actions cannot impact the determination and intent of our experts for peaceful nuclear progress,” AmirAbdollahian said.

The Israeli military did not comment on the attack as it rarely publicly claims such attacks. However, arch enemy Israel has long said it was willing to act unilaterally and conduct a military strike against Iran if it had to.

Should this be an Israeli attack on Iran, it would be the first known such attack carried by the new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The attack comes as tensions are high between Iran and the West over the stalled negotiations to revive the abandoned 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran’s repression of protesters and human rights violations amid countrywide demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini, and the regime’s supply of arms to Russia which are used in the latter’s war in Ukraine.