New Delhi: Days after a retaliatory drone strike by Iran on Israel, Tel Aviv launched attacks on Iranian soil, with Iranian officials claiming that only three drones have been destroyed over its third largest city, Isfahan.
Early on Friday morning (April 19), Israel reportedly struck inside Iran, five days after Iran had launched over 300 drones and missiles in an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on April 14. Iran had retaliated after Israeli airstrikes attacked the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, Syria, killing at least two top military commanders, on April 1.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged retaliation, but there were reports that the United States was negotiating with Tel Aviv to prevent strikes against Iran and avoid escalation into a regional war.
Iran’s state run news agency, IRNA, reported that around 4 a.m, sounds of explosion were heard over Isfahan. It wrote that the air defence system at the 8th Shekhari Base of the Army Air Force at Isfahan detected three drones, intercepted them and the “sound of the defence was heard from the northeast of Isfahan”.
The airbase houses Iran’s F-14 fighter jets.
Till now, Israel has not made any official statements or claims of responsibility for Friday’s attack.
There were videos on X (formerly Twitter) showing announcements at airports in Iran, including the international airport at Tehran, that commercial flights across its airspace had been cancelled. They were later restored to normal service, as per reports.
The state media quoted Iran’s top military commander Seyyed Abdulrahim Mousavi as saying that explosions were related to anti-aircraft systems shooting at what he called a suspicious object that did not cause any damage.
“Experts are investigating this incident and will inform about the matter after receiving the results,” he said, as per IRNA.
Significantly, he did not identify the source of the attack.
Also read: The Strategic Implications of the Israel-Iran Standoff
The spokesperson of Iran’s cyberspace agency, Hossein Dalirian, had earlier taken to X to underline that reports in US media of a large strike on Iran were exaggerated.
Stating that there was “no missile attack for now”, Dalirian claimed, “They said that 500 suicide drones and missiles were fired at us and that Israel was subjected to the world’s largest drone attack. Now they want to respond to that operation with three of these quadcopters, and all three of them were shot down”.
Significantly, he also stated that the range of the quadcopters was limited and they were “definitely” launched from inside Iran.
This is not the first time that Iranian officials have said that drone attacks have been launched by Israel from within Iran.
Three years ago, Iran had claimed to have thwarted an attack by a quadcopter drone against a centrifuge manufacturing centre.
The drones had taken off from inside Iran and there had been no official comment from the Israeli government.
Israel had also reportedly sent six quadcopter drones into a drone manufacturing facility near the city of Kermanshah in early February 2022, as per reports.
Iran’s retaliation was to fire ballistic missiles to destroy a large building in Erbil, Iraq, which Tehran claimed was being used by Israeli agents.
In May 2022, a swarm of quadcopters apparently targeted a military site outside the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Israel had again not officially taken credit for the attack. Iranian officials had told media that the quadcopters were launched from inside Iran.
In January last year, Iran’s foreign minister had spoken of a “cowardly” attack on a military manufacturing facility near Isfahan. While there was no damage or casualties, the Israeli military had also declined to comment.
After Friday’s attacks, IRNA also reported that “field investigations in the city of Isfahan show that important facilities in this province, especially nuclear facilities, are completely safe and no accidents have been reported in them”.
The state news agency also confirmed that “so far no large-scale explosions and hits caused by any air threats have been reported”.
The UN atomic watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, posted that there was “no damage to [Iran’s] nuclear sites”.
IAEA can confirm that there is no damage to #Iran’s nuclear sites. DG @rafaelmgrossi continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts. IAEA is monitoring the situation very closely. pic.twitter.com/4F7pAlNjWM
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) April 19, 2024
Incidentally, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) had immediately denied reports on Thursday night in an Israeli media outlet that Israel’s Dimona nuclear research centre was damaged in the Iranian drone strike.
Ahead of the attack, there had been intense speculation in Iran’s conservative media outlets on how Israel would conduct its reprisals. Many of the scenarios mapped out had talked about limited Israeli strikes in Iran, but not at nuclear facilities.
According to most analysts, the downplaying of Israel’s attack in Iranian state media is an indication that Tehran does not want to go into a cycle of retaliation.
Iran’s media are downplaying the incident, characterizing it as a minor event with “quadcopters” that didn’t lead to explosions on ground.
This suggests Iran doesn’t consider it significant enough to use as a pretext for escalation, hopefully avoiding further conflict for now.
— Sina Toossi (@SinaToossi) April 19, 2024
However, another analyst, Farzan Sabet, a senior researcher at the Geneva-based Global Governance Centre, said that the attack could be the “first of several, escalating Israeli retaliatory attacks on Iran/the Axis of Resistance”.
He also pointed out that Israeli strike may have been limited as it was the Passover period.
A senior US official told CNN that while Israel had informed Washington that it would conduct a reprisal strike, the expectation was that it would not target any civilian or nuclear facilities. CNN also reported that another anonymous US official said that Washington did “not endorse” the Israeli response.
On Thursday, the United States and UK and announced new sanctions targeting the production of drones in Iran, following the attack on Israel.
US President Joe Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel beat back the April 13 missile and drone strike and were now holding Iran accountable with the new sanctions and export controls, as per Reuters.
Following the Israeli drone retaliation, price of oil jumped in the international market, with Brent crude futures up by 2% to $88.86 per barrel. It had also gone up to $90, but dropped further once it became certain that the extent of the attack was limited.
Till now, India has not commented on the Israeli drone attack. After the Iranian drone and missile barrage on April 14, India had asked for “immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of diplomacy”.
Any escalation in violence would be a major concern for India, as the region is not only crucial for energy security but also hosts a large Indian diaspora.
India’s statement had expressed concern at the situation but did not explicitly condemn the attack by Iran or name it as the perpetrator.
It reflected the balancing act that New Delhi follows between Iran and Israel, despite the perception of the Modi government as being closer to Tel Aviv.
While there has been no Indian statement, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at the daily briefing that Beijing opposes any action that escalates tensions in West Asia.
Russia, which is a close ally of Iran, urged all sides to exercise “restraint”.
“We continue to favour restraint on the sides and to refrain from any action that could provoke further escalation in such a sensitive region,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
At the end of the G7 meeting in Capri, Italy on Friday, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said that the group condemned the “unprecedented” attack by Iran on Israel in both “scope and scale”.
He also added that the G7 were “committed to de-escalating” tensions between Israel and Iran.
At the same time, the G7 group will also impose more sanctions against Iran in the coming days.
