The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Muted show of force gives Iran’s supreme leader birthday surprise
Israeli jets target air defences of nuclear sites in attack ‘calibrated to avoid escalation’
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ISRAELI fighter jets fired missiles at Iran in a muted show of force early yesterday morning, reportedly targeting the air defence systems of a key nuclear plant in the country.
The attack was aimed near the central city of Isfahan, home to an Iranian military base, a major missile production complex, and several nuclear sites, according to US officials.
The strike came in response to Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on its arch rival last weekend, after decades of shadow war.
Israel had vowed to hit back after Iran launched more than 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles, an attack which was itself in retaliation to the April 1 bombing of an Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven military officers.
The retaliatory action yesterday appears to have been limited in scope and calculated to avoid escalating the regional tensions into a wider war, though fears of a miscalculation remain. ‘The media supporters of the Zionist regime attempted to spin a narrative victory from another defeat’
Tehran promptly played down the attack as “reckless fireworks”, claiming no damage was caused, while Israel stayed silent.
Israel has not publicly claimed credit, although Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, told reporters at a G7 summit that the Jewish state had alerted Washington at the “last minute”.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was tight-lipped at the G7 foreign ministers summit in Capri, but stressed the US “was not involved in any offensive operations”.
Mr Blinken said Washington, along with the rest of the G7, was “committed to de-escalating” and “to trying to bring this tension to a close”.
The White House has remained unusually silent, with Joe Biden’s spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, refusing to comment on the attack at a press briefing last night.
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, called for “calm heads to prevail” in a statement yesterday.
That message appears to have been heeded for the time being.
One Israeli official said the attack was intended to send a message, while another described it as “carefully calibrated” to avoid escalation. Meanwhile a regional intelligence source with knowledge of Iran’s thinking said that direct state-to-state strikes between the two regional powers were “over”.
Three Iranian officials told
York Times small drones carried out the “attack”, possibly launched from inside Iran, and that radar had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace. However, one senior US official said three missiles were fired from Israeli fighter aircraft outside of Iran.
The Israelis were targeting an air defence radar site protecting the Natanz nuclear complex, reported to be Iran’s primary uranium enrichment facility, the official told ABC News.
An initial assessment suggested the strike had destroyed the air defence station, but the report had yet to be completed, the official said.
The strike was intended to send a signal to Iran that Israel has these capabilities, but was not looking to escalate the situation, according to the official.
Iran’s soft rhetoric in response suggests it has no immediate plans for retaliation.
“The media supporters of the Zionist regime attempted to spin a narrative victory from another defeat,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said. “The downed small drones had no financial or human damage.”
Israel’s decision to hold back from broader and immediate action this week came amid competing pressures on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to deliver a blow that would punish Iran without provoking further escalation.
The Israeli prime minister has been under pressure from the US and Europe to moderate the country’s response, while hardliners at home demanded a sharp rebuke of Tehran.
Gulf countries had been increasingly worried. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had publicly called for maximum “self-restraint” to avert a wider war. Regional neighbours including Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s message “was relayed forcefully” through direct security and diplomatic channels, one senior regional intelligence source said.
Israel’s plans to hit back were reportedly postponed twice as a result. As Iran’s barrage unfolded last weekend, two members of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, both former armed forces commanders, were reported to have called for an immediate response.
The war cabinet agreed to hold off after a call with Joe Biden and in the face of differing views from other minExplosions isters, according to two Israeli officials.
Israel’s options ranged from strikes on strategic facilities, including nuclear sites or Revolutionary Guards bases, to covert operations, targeted assassinations and cyber attacks on strategic industrial plants and nuclear facilities.
Its war cabinet ruled out the most drastic options: a direct strike on strategic sites including Iran’s nuclear facilities. The sun had yet to rise yesterday when residents in the Iranian city of Isfahan were startled awake by buzzing sounds, then blasts.
began sounding overhead at 4am in central Iran, where a major military base and the regime’s primary nuclear facility is located.
“I rushed out as I was worried; I saw a big boom, and then a few small ones,” said Ali, who lives in eastern Isfahan.
“The sky became orange,” he said. “We hear these sounds usually as they test air defence systems, but this one was more than that, and too early.”
An hour later Iranian state media reported explosions had been heard and the country’s air defence systems activated. US officials began privately confirming to news organisations that Israel had launched missiles from within Iranian territory.
Only a single word came from Itamar Ben-Gvir. Israel’s far-Right national security minister, who posted on X, “lame”. Hossein Alizaden, a former Iranian diplomat, said the strike “holds little political value” until Israel acknowledges it was behind it.
As the sun tipped higher into the sky yesterday, Iranian state broadcasts cast the day just as any other.
“This morning’s explosion in the sky over Isfahan was caused by the activation of air defence systems in response to a suspicious object. There was no accident or damage,” said General Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s army.
Airports in Tehran, and the cities of Shiraz and Isfahan were closed and then reopened a few hours later.
Israel’s decision to strike in central Isfahan province, a strategic military hub, and suggestions it launched strikes from within Iranian territory could be as much about psychological warfare.
One of the targets appeared to have been the Shekari 8 Air Base in Isfahan, a base for Iran’s regular army, rather than one used by its feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“They may have viewed the Islamic Republic as less likely to retaliate if they attacked an army base versus an IRGC base,” said Mr Brodsky.
That it happened around the birthday of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was curious, though experts said it had little significance beyond an interesting coincidence.
That Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi also chose not to cut short his trip to the central province of Semnan, indicated that the country was not on high alert.