The Iranian authorities claim to have intercepted the devices and affirm that the attack has resulted in no victims or damage.
April 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Iranian authorities have assured this Friday that they have repelled an attack with drones against the surroundings of the city of Isfahan (center), where there is an important military base and a nuclear installation, in a step by Israel after the attacks carried out by Iran against Israeli territory in response to the bombing of its Consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Brigadier General Amir Mihandust, commander of the Iranian Army in Isfahan, has confirmed that the explosions recorded during the early hours of the morning were caused by the firing of air defense systems against “suspicious objects” identified in the city's airspace.
“The sounds are related to the firing of air defense systems against a suspicious object. There is no damage,” he stressed, as reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA. Iranian media have highlighted that the situation in the city is calm.
In this sense, official sources cited by the Mehr news agency have stressed that air defense systems have shot down “mini drones” in the area. “There is no information about these small devices and we are trying to locate the remains,” they highlighted.
Hours after the attack, the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran has withdrawn part of the restrictions imposed in recent hours on air operations in the country, while asking passengers to pay attention to the notices at airports and messages from airlines due to delays and cancellations, according to the IRNA agency.
In this way, the Iranian authorities have downplayed the situation and the reports in some American media about a missile attack against a military installation in Isfahan, located more than 300 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.
REACTIONS FROM ISRAEL
Although the Israeli Government has not officially commented on the attack, official Israeli sources cited by the American newspaper 'The Washington Post' have confirmed that they are behind the attack and have argued that the objective was to transfer to Iran that the Israeli Army can hit your territory.
Along these lines, Israeli sources cited by 'The New York Times' have stressed that the attack was launched by Israel, while the Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, has published a brief message on his account on the social network X apparently criticizing the limited action: “Weak.”
Parliamentarian Tally Gotliv, from the Likud of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has also resorted to X to affirm that “it is a morning in which the head is held high, with pride.” “Israel is a strong and powerful country. I hope that we recover the power of deterrence,” she said, in statements in which she also confirmed the role of the Israeli authorities in the attack.
For their part, official US sources have indicated in statements given to the US television network that Washington had a prior warning from Israel about the attack, although they have stressed that “they did not support it.” “We do not support the response,” they said.
Another official source cited by this media has revealed that the Israeli authorities “never specified in precious terms” the range of targets that could be included in the attack, although “nuclear and civilian facilities were clearly not in that category.” Likewise, they have reiterated that Washington “did not give a 'green light'” to the attack.
For its part, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated this Friday that “there is no damage” to Iran's nuclear facilities and recalled that these infrastructures “should never be a target” in a conflict.
“The IAEA can confirm that there is no damage to Iran's nuclear facilities,” the IAEA said on its account on the social network extreme.”
INCREASE IN TENSIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The attack by Israel takes place six days after the Iranian Armed Forces and Revolutionary Guard launched an attack with nearly 300 drones and missiles against Israeli territory in response to the bombing of its Consulate in Damascus, which resulted in the death of seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and six Syrian citizens.
Since then, Iran has defended its attacks against Israel in the face of international criticism and has argued that they are part of a legitimate response and its right to “self-defense” after the aforementioned bombing, while issuing repeated warnings about the possibility of a even tougher response in case Israel carries out a new attack.
The Iranian attack was the first launched directly from Iranian territory against Israel, given that Tehran argues that the bombing against its Consulate also represents an attack against its territory, according to international laws, which prohibit armed attacks against diplomatic legations, part of the National sovereignty.
For their part, Israeli authorities have spent days saying they were weighing their response to Iran's attack, amid calls from its allies and the rest of the international community for it to show restraint to avoid a future conflict. large scale in the Middle East.
Thus, the Israeli Army assured in recent days that it would respond to the Iranian attack “with actions, not with words”, after which the war cabinet established after the October 7 attacks by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and At the beginning of the offensive against the Gaza Strip, several meetings were held to address whether this response would be directly against Iran or against one of its allied groups in the region.
In recent days, the international community has expressed growing concern about the increase in tensions and the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East through a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel, for which it has called on the parties to calm, while the Israeli offensive against Gaza continues, which already leaves nearly 34,000 Palestinians dead.
