Israel Reportedly Behind Attack On Iranian Weapons Factory

While the Iranian Ministry of Defense report that there was an unsuccessful drone attack on a Ministry of Defense workshop, Israeli news sources report a successful attack on an Iranian weapons factory was carried out by Israel.

By Donald Standeford, SJ Founder/Publisher
January 29, 2023 09:00 pm UTC
Modified: 2023-01-29 09:00 pm

WASHINGTON - Israel is reported to be behind the attack on the Iranian weapons factory, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing US officials, and a report by Israeli news agency Haaretz which asserts that "from the nature of the attack" it can be "estimated" that the Mossad was behind it.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder has stated that no U.S. military forces were involved in strikes on Iran, according to Reuters, despite claims by Saudi media that the United States Air Force was involved.

Saudi media, however, has reported the United States Air Force and "another country" carried out drone "strikes" in Iran. Russian state-run news TASS also reported this, citing Arabic news, Al-Arabiya television. Israeli news i24 also reported this, citing Saudi media.

A U.S. official was cited by Reuters as saying that it "did appear" that Israel was involved in the attack on a "military factory" in Iran, but denied the Saudi reports that the U.S. Air Force was involved in the "attacks".

The attack on the military facility occurred at around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. In a separate incident, a refinery fire broke out in northwest Iran, and a 5.9 magnitude earthquake also coincidentally struck nearby and killed two people.

The Iranian Ministry of Defense had put out a statement claiming, "On the evening of the 8th of Bahman 1401 at around 23:30, an unsuccessful attack was carried out using micro-birds on one of the workshop complexes of the Ministry of Defense, and fortunately, with predictions and defense measures, one of them was hit by the complex's air defense and the other two birds were caught in defenses traps and exploded. Fortunately, this unsuccessful attack did not cause any casualties and caused minor damage to the roof of the workshop, which, by God's grace, did not cause a disruption in the equipment and missions of the complex".

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian released a statement that said, "The attack was a cowardly attempt to destabilize the country. Such actions will not impact our experts' determination to progress in our peaceful nuclear work".

The report by the New York Times said that it's believed the drones that were used to carry out the attack on the Iranian military facility took off inside Iran. This corroborates the Iranian MOD statement that small drones were used in the attack, which may have to have been flown from inside the country to reach its target.

The New York Times report suggested that quadcopter drones may have been used, containing four rotors and a short flight range. It also speculated that it must have been carried out from within the borders of Iran due to the fact that Iran's international borders were so far away from the target.

The location of the attack is around 215 miles south of Tehran, the capital of Iran, and contains an air base built to hold its American-made F-14 fighter jets, as well as a Nuclear Fuel Research and Production center, according to Haaretz.

Haaretz reported that the Israeli military declined to comment on the drone strike reported by the Wall Street Journal, but the news agency claimed that the attack was "successful" despite Iran's claims that the drone attacks were unsuccessful.

The Israeli news agency also said that the head of the Israeli national intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea had said that Isfahan was a potential target in a speech that he gave last September at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

Iran's state television said that a fire had broken out at an oil refinery in an industrial zone, near Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, but said that the cause of the fire is not known. It showed firefighters working to put out the fires.