“Mysterious” Drone Strike Hits Iran’s Military Facility Near Top Nuclear Weapons Site

“Mysterious” Drone Strike Hits Iran’s Military Facility Near Top Nuclear Weapons Site

Unidentified explosive drones targeted an Iranian military factory in Isfahan province, home to Iran’s several key nuclear weapons facilities.

“Iranian news agencies earlier reported the loud blast and carried a video showing a flash of light at the plant, said to be an ammunition factory, and footage of emergency vehicles and fire trucks outside the plant,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. officials calming Israel was behind the drone strike amid Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program. “Israel carried out a drone strike targeting a defense compound in Iran, as the U.S. and Israel look for new ways to contain Tehran’s nuclear and military ambitions, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the operation,” the WSJ reported Sunday.

Though reports in Iranian state media did not mention any of regime’s nuclear sites being hit in the strike, the statement by the country’s foreign minister made a direct reference to Iran’s nuclear program.

“Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said . . . that the incident would not impact Iran’s ‘determination and intention regarding the peaceful nuclear progress’,” the BBC reported.

Video from Isfahan this evening where there was an explosion this evening at an #Iran MODAFL ammunition manufacturing facility, per Iranian media. Here in this video the narrator claims there was a drone involved. pic.twitter.com/eyBxMUCCWC

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 28, 2023

The Associated Press reported the details of the strike:

Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defense factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight, authorities said early Sunday, causing some damage at the plant amid heightened regional and international tensions engulfing the Islamic Republic. (…)

Details on the Isfahan attack, which happened around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, remained scarce. A Defense Ministry statement described three drones being launched at the facility, with two of them successfully shot down. A third apparently made it through to strike the building, causing “minor damage” to its roof and wounding no one, the ministry said. (…)

Iranian state television’s English-language arm, Press TV, aired mobile phone video apparently showing the moment that drone struck along the busy Imam Khomeini Expressway that heads northwest out of Isfahan, one of several ways for drivers to go to the holy city of Qom and Tehran, Iran’s capital. A small crowd stood gathered, drawn by anti-aircraft fire, watching as an explosion and sparks struck a dark building. (…)

The Defense Ministry only called the site a “workshop,” without elaborating on what it made. Isfahan, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Tehran, is home to both a large air base built for its fleet of American-made F-14 fighter jets and its Nuclear Fuel Research and Production Center.

The mullahs 🇮🇷 are having a very bad night as their ammunition factory in Isfahan is no more. #Mahsa_Amini #IranRevoIution pic.twitter.com/0rjbHSJh3F

— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) January 29, 2023

Highlighting the geographic importance of the drone strike, the BBC noted that “Isfahan province is home to a large air base and several nuclear sites, including Natanz, which is at the centre of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme.”

The site in Natanz is a heavily-guarded underground facility used for the production of enriched uranium, a key component for Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

In April 2021, the Natanz facility was hit by a massive attack that destroyed thousands of newly-installed advanced centrifuges used for nuclear enrichment. The Shia-Islamic regime blamed Israel for the incident which effectively derailed its nuke ambitions.

Whoa! Multiple blasts reported in Iran. There were explosions at a military factory in the city of Isfahan from a drone attack
Iran’s Defense Ministry says there was an ammunition depot was hit. Meanwhile, Iranian drones continue to kill Ukrainians pic.twitter.com/Fd6TKitaSe

— Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 (@OlgaNYC1211) January 28, 2023

Explosions Reported in Tehran and Other Iranian Cities

Meanwhile, “mysterious” incidents were reported in other cities of Iran during the night, including a fire in an oil refinery and explosions near the capital Tehran.

The Israeli TV channel i24news reported:

Reports of mysterious incidents were recorded in other areas of the country on Saturday night, including a massive fire at at an oil refinery in an industrial zone near the northwestern city of Tabriz.

Additionally, there were unconfirmed reports of explosions and smoke in northwest of the capital Tehran.

Under Biden’s Watch Iran Races Towards a Nuclear Weapon

The strike comes as Iran pushes ahead with its nuclear weapons program, and has enriched enough weapons-grade uranium to build multiple bombs, the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) disclosed Tuesday. “The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog … warned that Tehran has enough material for “several” weapons,” The Times of Israel reported last week.

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