Israel on Thursday night carried out a strike in the city of Isfahan in Iran, where three explosions were heard near a military base and airport, according to Iranian state media. Iran’s air defense systems were activated in several locations, and flights were diverted or canceled at nearby airports.
The strike comes after Iran’s recent attack on Israel, in which Tehran fired some 350 suicide drones and missiles at the Jewish State, claiming the attack as retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Syria on April 1 that killed top Iranian general Mohammed Reza Zahedi. Israel had vowed to strike back, and US intelligence had suggested a limited and narrow response was likely.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi had warned earlier that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh response.”
Iranian officials told the New York Times that Israel had targeted the 8th Tactical Airbase of the Iranian Air Force, which is near the airport in Isfahan, and which contains multiple squadrons of American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft. The fighter jets were purchased by Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The strike also came – whether intentionally or not – on the 85th birthday of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Having ruled Iran since 1989, Khameini is the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East.
Iran appears to now be attempting to play down the Israeli strike, insisting that it only involved drones, and that no missiles were fired.
“They said that we fired 500 suicide drones and missiles… now they respond with three of these quadcopter, all of which were shut down,” Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian wrote on X.
Another official said, “There’s been no airstrike in Isfahan or other parts of the country. They only made a failed and humiliating attempt to fly quadcopters, and they are all shot down,” and that the “drone attack” was launched by “Israeli groups” in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
When asked about the strikes, the office of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declined to claim responsibility, and the IDF said that “we don’t have a comment at this time.”
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One Response
In the middle of the night, Iran’s most significant military areas are targeted by Israeli bombs/missiles. Iran had very delinquent detection, no defense, even though they were supposedly on high alert. Probably minimal loss of human life, in Israeli humanistic style, but what a resounding response. It’s time to put the Octopus and its tentacles out of the terror business, their people need to focus on better things for all of them, not just the elites.