Iran, drones on a defense factory. WSJ: “Israel Attack.” Tehran: “They won’t stop us from developing nuclear power” – Il Fatto Quotidiano

Drones that they explode in the heart of the country, in Isfahan, hitting a military “laboratory” and responsibility for the attack still uncertain, among newspapers accusing Israel, others pointing the finger at the United States and those who instead say that unmanned aircraft are parties from inside Iranian territory. Iran, overwhelmed by protests for months and plunged into the vortex of conflict Russia-Ukraine with the supply of drones to Moscowwitnessed heavy explosions in the city 350 kilometers away during the night Tehran where they are based both a large air base built for both the American-made F-14 fighter fleet and the Nuclear Fuel Research and Production Center. The ministry of Defence Iranian said one of the drones was destroyed by the site’s anti-aircraft defense system, while the other two were exploded, but he has not pointed the finger at Israel, as he has often done in the past. To attribute to Tel-Aviv there responsibility of the attack, is exclusive to the Wall Street Journal: According to the newspaper, Israel has carried out an attack on the defense complex, while it and the United States are looking for new ways to contain Tehran’s nuclear and military ambitions. The WSJ quotes US officials and sources familiar with the operation, underlining that the raid hit an Iranian munitions factory, right next to a site belonging to the Iran Space Research Center, sanctioned by the US for its activities related to the missile program ballistics of Iran. Even the Jerusalem Post, before the Wall Street Journal, had pointed the finger at Israel: citing foreign sources and Western intelligence, the newspaper wrote that the action was an exceptional success, despite Iran having admitted only “minor damage to the roof” . According to the television Al-Arabiyawhich cites its sources, however, to hit the “laboratory” were theUS Air Force and “another country”. While, according to the Arab TV channel Al Hadath, Israel is not involved in the operation. According to New York Timesagain, the attack was launched from inside Iranian territory: the newspaper’s conclusion came after the state agency Irna specified that the aircraft used were three quad-rotor Mavs armed with explosives. These are vehicles that have a very small range and can also be used by non-military personnel: according to local Iranian media, a similar episode occurred in June 2021 when a nuclear centrifuge factory was attacked and another against a Hezbollah in Beirut in August 2019.

For the Wall Street Journal it’s about the first known attack carried out by Israel under the new right-wing coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who authorized a series of bold operations inside Iran when he last served in this role from 2009 to 2021. Meanwhile, he still know the newspaper, Israeli and American leaders are discussing new ways to combat Iran’s destabilizing operations including deepening military cooperation with Russia.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, commented the attack, describing it as a “cowardly” gesture and as “part of the attempts carried out in recent months by our enemies to destabilize Iran”. “But it will have no effect on the will and intentions of our specialists for it development of a nuclear Pacific“, added the minister.

“All options are on the table for to prevent to Iran to obtain nuclear weapons,” said the US secretary of state instead Antony Blinken in an interview with Al-Arabiya in Egypt, the first stop on his tour of the Middle East which will take him to meet the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. Blinken also added that, “although Iran has rejected the proposal to return to the nuclear deal” Washington “still believes that diplomacy is the most effective way to address the issue”.

The Ukrainian presidential adviser also intervened on the incident Mikhaylo Podolyak. “Explosive night in Iran“, he wrote on Twitter, recalling the “production of drones and missiles” and “oil refineries”. In his tweet Podolyak he stressed that “the logic of war is inexorable and murderous” and “presents the bill rigorously to the perpetrators and accomplices”. The reference is to the accusations by some countries a Tehran to supply drones to the Russian army for war in Ukraine. A theme on which, since October, he has also intervened Israel with an exchange of information with Kiev out of approximately 400 drones used by Fly in the conflict. Just before, the New York Times he had also written, quoting the statements of a Ukrainian official, that Israel would have provided Kiev with “intelligence information useful for hitting the Iranian drones” used by Moscow.

The affected site – The place where the drones were launched is described by the Ministry of Defence local as a “laboratory”, without however delving into the details what does he specialize in, as reported by the Guardianalso recalling that i defense sites and nuclear power plants find themselves increasingly surrounded by commercial properties and neighborhoods residential as the country’s cities expand. In some places you don’t even know what is being produced within these sites. The only recognition is the sign displayed with the logo of the ministry of defense or of the Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. As for what happened to Isfahan, a video widely circulated on social networks, the authenticity of which is still doubtful, shows a large explosion at the scene and images of emergency vehicles heading towards the area. “The accident, which occurred at 11.30 pm on Saturday evening (9.00 pm in Italy) – the ministry said in a statement – ​​only damaged part of the roof of a workshop and caused no casualties or damage to equipment. The activities of the workshops continue”. And he specified that “these blind actions will have no impact on the continuation of the country’s progress”. According to Tehran’s Defense communiqué, there were three unmanned planes: one was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and the other two exploded thanks to “traps” set up to defend the plant. The statement adds that there was “minor damage” to the roof of the factory and that no one was injured. From Tehran no direct accusations arrive, while the parliamentarian Mohammad-Hassan Assafari points the finger at “the opponents and enemies” of Islamic Republic, who with this attack are trying to “disturb the defensive capabilities” of the country. In the same hours of the attack, a major fire had broken out in a refinery petrolium in the northern city of Tabriz. However, there are currently no indications of a connection between the two events.

Israel – Tel-Aviv did not comment on the story, but the Jerusalem Post recalls how in the past Western intelligence services and Iranian sources have attributed to the Israeli services the Mossad attacks on nuclear facilities a Christmas in 2020 and 2021, to a nuclear plant a Karaj in 2021 in addition to the destruction of 120 Iranian drones in February 2022. Furthermore, the newspaper writes again, “there are few organizations other than the Mossad who have the advanced and surgical skills demonstrated in this operation“. In the events mentioned above, Iran has always initially spoken of failed attacks, then having to admit their magnitude in the face of evidence from satellite images and other evidence that has emerged in public. It’s not clear, continues the Jerusalem Postif the advanced weapons damaged in the attack are only conventional or they may have a double use as certain ballistic missiles or explosive equipment that can also be used with bombs nuclear.

According to the exclusive of Wall Street Journalalso director of the CIA William Burns made an unannounced trip to Israel last week to discuss Iran and other regional issues, according to sources close to the dossier. The Secretary of State is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday Antony Blinken to continue US-Israel talks on Iran and other regional issues. Last week, the United States and Israel conducted their largest joint military exercise ever involving more than 7,500 personnel from both countries in a series of scenarios to test their ability to eliminate air defense systems and resupply jets, operations that could be key elements of a major military strike against Iran. Israel’s top general in charge said last week al Wall Street Journal that Israel and the United States are preparing for the worst.

The protests and the nuclear deal – The explosions of Isfahan they arrive while theIran is shocked by the protest movement that arose in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Aminithe 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish who died while in the custody of the moral police for not wearing the correct veil and from the differences related to the issue of nuclear. L’Iran has several well-known nuclear research sites in the region of Isfahan, including a uranium conversion plant. In April 2022, Tehran announced that it has begun producing 60% enriched uranium at the site of natanz, approaching the 90% needed to make an atomic bomb. THE negotiations to revive the international Iranian nuclear deal, known by its English acronym Jcpoa and concluded in 2015 betweenIran on the one hand, theEuropean Union and the six major powers on the other, are deadlocked after the unilateral exit of the United States in 2018. This deal aimed to prevent a Tehran to acquire atomic weapons, goal that theIran he always denied prosecuting. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of several campaigns of cyber attacks, sabotage and targeted assassinations of scientists.