DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — State news agency IRNA reported earlier on Sunday that drones attacked an Iranian defense factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight.
It posted a Defense Department statement that said the attack occurred late Saturday and caused minor damage to the rooftop. According to reports, three drones were shot down by Iranian air defense forces.
The ministry did not say who was suspected of carrying out the attack.
Separately, Iranian state television reported that a fire broke out at an oil refinery in an industrial area near the northwestern city of Tabriz. He said the cause was not yet known, as footage showed firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.
Iran and Israel have long engaged in a shadow war involving covert attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities.
Iran said last year that an unexplained incident at the Parchin military and weapons development base east of the capital Tehran killed a technician and injured another employee. The ministry called it an accident but gave no details.
Perchin has a military base, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said it suspected Iran had tested explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons.
April 2021, Iran blamed Israel For the attack on the underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the centrifuge.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country orchestrated a devastating cyberattack that caused a power outage at its nuclear facility. Israeli authorities rarely acknowledge operations by the country’s secret military forces or Mossad intelligence services.
In 2020, Iran accused Israel of sophisticated attacks. killed the top nuclear scientist.
Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is purely peaceful. U.S. intelligence, Western powers, and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had a systematic nuclear weapons program until 2003.
The UN Chief Nuclear Officer, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said: recently warned Iran claims it has enough highly enriched uranium to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses.
Efforts to revive a 2015 agreement with world powers to limit Iran’s nuclear activities stalled last year. Both the US and Israel have pledged to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and neither has ruled out military action.