A military complex in Isfahan, central Iran, was targeted on January 28 by a drone attack. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times attribute it to Israel, citing unnamed US officials and intelligence officials familiar with the dialogue on this subject between Israel and Washington. On Sunday January 29, in Syria, the Israeli air force also struck a convoy of weapons coming from Iran, killing seven people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The strike on Isfahan, a first since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power as prime minister in December 2022, is, according to the Israeli site Walla, linked to the Iranian ballistic program. It took place as Iran is accused of preparing to supply Russia with missiles, in addition to attack drones that Moscow is deploying in its war in Ukraine. This attack was carried out by quadcopter drones equipped with bombs, according to the Iranian public agency IRNA. Such machines, with limited autonomy, would necessarily have taken off from Iranian territory.
“Peaceful Nuclear”
State-run Press TV aired amateur footage showing an explosion near a boulevard in northern Isfahan. This city is notably home to a space research center involved in the production of ballistic missiles, as well as an air base and a nuclear uranium conversion plant. “Such actions cannot affect the will of our experts for the development of peaceful nuclear energy,” said Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
Israel had already carried out a drone attack in August 2019 against a precision missile manufacturing site in Beirut, set up by Lebanese Hezbollah with the help of its Iranian ally. In June 2021, the Jewish state thus struck an Iranian nuclear site, then a drone factory in March 2022. That year, Mr. Netanyahu’s predecessor, Naftali Bennett, had supervised an expansion of Mossad targets in Iran , by validating the assassination of officers involved in Tehran’s network of militia allies in the Middle East.
