A drone attack on an Iranian military base

Iran It said on Sunday that it had foiled an overnight attack by drone On that day A military baseAttached to the background of tensions atomic file and at War in Ukraine. Officials remained cautious on Sunday afternoon after announcing that they had launched an investigation into the cause of the unprovoked attack.

Overnight, the Defense Ministry announced that an attack “using micro-drones on a compound” of the ministry in Isfahan, a major city in the center, had failed. The attack, which took place around 11:30 p.m. (8:00 p.m. GMT) on Saturday, resulted in no casualties, but only “minor damage to the roof” of a building and “no disruption to the operation of the premises,” the ministry said.

Target Ammunition Manufacturing Plant

The three drones targeted “an ammunition production plant” in the north of the city, the IRNA agency later said. The attack announcement comes in a tense environment amid a protest movement in Iran after the death of Mahza Amini in September, continuing differences over the nuclear issue and accusations by some countries that Tehran has supplied drones to the Russian military. War in Ukraine.

One of the drones was destroyed by the target base’s air defense system, while the other two exploded, the Iranian ministry said. The video, which has been widely circulated on social media without being verified for authenticity, shows footage of a massive explosion at the site and rescue vehicles heading towards the area.

Uranium is at the center of the debate

In statements to the Mehr agency, parliament member Mohammad-Hasan Assafari blamed the attack on the Islamic Republic’s “adversaries and adversaries” who were trying to “disrupt the defense capability” of the country. Iran has several known nuclear research sites, including a uranium conversion plant in the Isfahan region.

In April 2022, Tehran announced that it had started productionUranium The Natanz site is 60% enriched, approaching the 90% required to make a nuclear bomb.

Negotiations to renew the international Iran nuclear deal, known by its acronym English The JCPOA and its termination in 2015 have left Iran on the one hand and the European Union and the six major powers on the other hand in limbo after unilateral withdrawal. America In 2018. The deal was aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a goal Iran has denied ever pursuing. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of several campaigns, including cyber attacks, sabotage and targeted assassinations of scientists.

Israel under attack

Iran has accused this Israel It has carried out several covert operations on its soil, including what Tehran says was a satellite-guided machine gun attack that killed a leading nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020. In addition to the attack, a fire broke out at a motor oil production plant in the country’s northwest on Saturday evening, IRNA reported.

The spectacular fire incident, according to images released by the media, took place at an important industrial hub attached to the Ministry of Industries. The fire was brought under control by firefighters and authorities are investigating its cause, IRNA said.