The attack at around 11:30 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. CET) reportedly caused minor damage to the roof of a building. But nobody was injured. According to Irna, the building targeted is a munitions factory. The attack caused “no disruption” to the activity of the complex.
According to Irna, the drones are said to have been quadrocopters, i.e. drones equipped with four rotors. The aircraft with the least damage after repelling the attack was handed over to the security forces stationed in the complex.
Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian spoke to journalists about a “cowardly act” with the aim of “making Iran more insecure”. However, such acts could not “prevent our experts from developing their will to develop peaceful nuclear power”.
Parliamentarian Mohammad-Hassan Assafari told the Mehr news agency that the Islamic Republic’s “enemies and opponents” wanted to “disrupt” Iran’s “defensive capabilities” with this attack.
Iran has several nuclear research facilities in the Isfahan region, including a uranium conversion facility. In April 2021, Tehran announced that production of uranium enriched to 60 percent had started at the Natans site in Isfahan province. According to this, Iran is approaching the 90 percent enrichment required for the production of a nuclear bomb.
In recent years, Tehran has accused Israel of several covert actions on Iranian soil, including the killing of scientist Mohsen Fakhrisadeh. The nuclear physicist was killed in an attack on his car near Tehran in November 2020. Fakhrisadeh was under US sanctions for his role in Iran’s nuclear program when he was killed. Israel has never commented on the killing.
Negotiations on the international nuclear deal with Iran have been stuck for months. The agreement, agreed in 2015, was intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure that the country would not build nuclear weapons. It was negotiated by the USA, China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Iran.
However, under the then US President Donald Trump, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on Tehran. As a result, Iran also gradually withdrew from its obligations under the agreement and restricted inspections of its facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
