IDF said to Strike Radar Defense for Secret Iran Nuclear Site, Message Sent

A claimed Israeli attack in Iran overnight Thursday-Friday exceeded the extent of several tiny drones detailed by Tehran, US media reported later Friday. 

The attack allegedly involved three missiles fired by Israeli Air Force airplanes on an air defense radar post near Isfahan that was part of an array guarding the adjoining top-secret Natanz nuclear facility.

According to ABC, a US official said that the missiles were launched from outside Iranian airspace.

According to an ABC report, the strike was “very limited.” It said that a first evaluation indicated that the attack destroyed the radar facility but that the assessment was not yet complete.

The ABC story did not specify if the missiles were in addition to the drones described by Iran.

A New York Times piece late Friday, which also said that Israeli jets launched the missiles, observed that the new evidence revealed that Israel’s operation “included more advanced firepower than initial reports indicated.”

The New York Times said that it was “not immediately clear the types of missiles used, from where they were fired, whether any were intercepted by Iran’s defenses or where they landed.”

Iran previously stated that three tiny drones were used in the assault on Isfahan. According to state television, the tiny aircraft were destroyed by air defenses, with no mention of missiles or damage in the strike.

Authorities stated air defenses fired on a major air base in Isfahan, which has long housed Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats, bought before to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel has not issued an official statement on the strike.

According to “senior US military sources,” the goal of the hit was a military facility in Isfahan, rather than the strongly defended nuclear facilities themselves, which are located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the north of the city, partially hidden behind a mountain.

“The Israelis hit what they intended to strike,” one of the sources told Fox News, adding that one primary target was hit many times and Iran’s Russian-made air defense system was found to be useless.

The hit targeted air defense systems at the military installation, which are meant to safeguard adjacent nuclear plants, according to Fox. Israel’s assault was intended to persuade the Iranians that “we can reach out and touch you,” according to the source.

Satellite images obtained by The Times of Israel revealed damage to the radar equipment at Isfahan Airport. The imagery was not immediately available for publishing due to the policy of the agency that took the shot.

Additional synthetic aperture radar satellite photos obtained on Friday provided proof that the radar station was targeted. While Israeli authorities remained mute on the strike, some politicians and previous officials spoke out against it.

Speaking to Channel 12 News, retired general Israel Ziv, a former IDF operations chief, stated that if Israel carried out the attack, it was not intended to cause major destruction, but rather to send a “very clear message to Iran,” demonstrating the “technological gap” between Israel and Iran and highlighting the IDF’s ability to penetrate Iran’s most sensitive sites.

According to the Pentagon, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a conversation hours after the attack, when they addressed “maintaining stability in the Middle East,” among other topics.

Despite rumors that the radar facility had been destroyed, CNN’s satellite imagery showed no significant damage to Iran’s Isfahan air base.

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite photos were captured about 10:18 a.m. local time, five hours after the impact.

“There does not appear to be any large craters in the ground, and there are no apparent destroyed buildings,” CNN said, adding that the results needed to be corroborated by frequent satellite images that may identify things like burn marks.

SAR pictures are formed when a satellite transmits radar beams that can pass through clouds, such as those that are now prohibiting satellites from photographing the region. Radar rays bounce off things on the ground and return to the satellite.

Despite the claims, Iran maintained that just a few tiny drones were fired and had caused no harm. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Muslim envoys in New York that drones caused no damage or injuries, as reported by Iranian media.

“The Zionist regime’s media supporters, in a desperate effort, tried to make victory out of their defeat, while the downed mini-drones have not caused any damage or casualties,” he has been cited as saying.

In a meeting with his Brazilian colleague, Amir-Abdollahian said, “The main factor for regional stability and security is to stop the Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza and the West Bank and establish a long-term ceasefire.”

Amir-Abdollahian traveled to New York to attend a Middle East-related United Nations Security Council meeting. The allegations that Israel launched missiles seem to be consistent with debris discovered in Iraq in the morning after Baghdad residents reported hearing booms.

Images revealed what seemed to be pieces of a two-stage standoff air-to-surface missile near Latifiya, southwest of Baghdad, which would have fallen away after launch, however this is not verified.

Israel’s air force has access to a variety of these weapons, boosting the potential that they were launched during the strike. Also, at the time of the event in Iran, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency cited a military statement claiming Israel had launched a missile strike on a southern air defense unit, inflicting damage. 

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor headquartered in Britain, the missile targeted a military radar used by government troops. The Observatory said it was unclear if there had been any casualties.

That region of Syria is immediately west of Isfahan, almost 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away, and east of Israel, and it might give insight into the path used by Israeli planes.

The Tasnim news agency released a video of one of its correspondents, who claimed to be in the southern Zerdenjan neighborhood of Isfahan, near the “nuclear energy mountain.” 

The tape showed two separate anti-aircraft gun positions, and characteristics in the video matched to known features of Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan.

“At 4:45, we heard gunshots,” he added. “It was the air defense, these guys that you’re watching, and over there too.”

Isfahan, Natanz, and Iran’s Nuclear Programme

The majority of Iran’s nuclear manufacturing capacity “is based around Isfahan and the Natanz nuclear enrichment complex 75 miles to the north,” the New York Times reported late Friday. According to the article, Israel has regularly practiced bombing and missile attacks to take it out.

While the Israeli government opted not to do so early Friday, the publication said that US officials were now concerned that Israel-Iran ties were “in a very different place than they had been just a week ago.” 

The prohibition on direct attacks on each other’s territories was now lifted. If there is another round — a fight over Iran’s nuclear advancements, or another Israeli hit on Iranian military personnel — both sides may feel more free to unleash direct attacks on one other.”

The Isfahan facility has three small research reactors donated by China, as well as fuel manufacturing and other operations for Iran’s civilian nuclear program.

Meanwhile, alleged Israeli sabotage assaults on the heavily defended subterranean Natanz enrichment plant have occurred on several occasions.

According to state television, all atomic sites in the vicinity are “fully safe.” The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, also said that “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites” after the event.

The International Atomic Energy organization (IAEA) “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts,” the organization stated in a statement.

Iran’s nuclear program has swiftly progressed to the point of manufacturing enriched uranium at practically weapons-grade levels after the breakdown of its atomic agreement with global powers in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from it.

While Iran claims its program is for peaceful reasons, Western governments and the IAEA allege Tehran had a covert military weapons program until 2003. 

The IAEA has warned that Iran already has enough enriched uranium to make many nuclear bombs if it so desires – while the US intelligence community says Tehran is not actively pursuing the bomb.

Iran’s claim that the assault was carried out by drones and caused minimal damage looked to be an attempt to downplay the gravity of the attack.

Iran has no imminent plans to retaliate against Israel, according to a senior Iranian official. The Iranian official also questioned if Israel was behind the incident in Isfahan, despite statements from several Israeli lawmakers claiming culpability.

The senior official’s comments, combined with a subdued response from official Iranian media organs, suggested that Tehran may be unwilling to risk war to make good on threats to attack Israel if it retaliated for a weekend missile and drone attack, and was looking for a way to avoid being held accountable for the bellicose promises.

“The incident’s foreign source has not been confirmed,” the Iranian official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more toward infiltration than attack.”

They stated that Iran has no imminent plans to respond to the assault.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi praised Tehran’s extraordinary retaliation assault on Israel over a week ago, but made no mention of the recent bombs.

Raisi told hundreds of people in Semnan province, east of Tehran, that the operation “showed our authority, our people’s steely resolve, and our unity.”

Most official remarks and news broadcasts made no mention of Israel, and state media featured experts and commentators who seemed dismissive of the magnitude.

The Israeli government remained silent on the walkout, although a number of lawmakers and former officials expressed out.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a hardliner who had advocated for a strong retaliation to Iran’s early Sunday strike, tweeted just the word “lame!”

According to a Channel 12 story, officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle chastised Ben Gvir for jeopardizing Israel’s national security, claiming the far-right minister “was and remains childish and irrelevant to any discussion.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also criticized Ben Gvir. “Never has a cabinet minister so badly hurt the country’s security, image and international standing,” Lapid said in a statement. “In an unforgivable, one-word tweet Ben Gvir managed to make Israel into a laughing stock, disgracing it from Tehran to Washington.”

International pressure was supposed to have restrained Israel’s reaction, ensuring that it did not escalate tensions further.

For years, Israel has pursued a plausible deniability strategy in its assaults on Iranian objectives in Syria, refusing to accept credit or talk publicly about individual missions while providing Iran and its proxies an option to avoid reprisal.

However, the technique has its limitations. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the April 1 attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed many members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, including a high general. 

Nonetheless, Iran retaliated on Sunday night by launching nearly 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and armed drones against Israel.

Israel, with assistance from the US, UK, France, and Jordan, successfully shot down almost the whole bombardment. 

According to Israeli sources, the lone casualty of the strike was a tiny Israeli child who was severely hurt by falling shrapnel. The targeted Nevatim air station reportedly received minor damage.

This article was created using automation and was thoroughly edited and fact-checked by one of our editorial staff members