Israeli officials claim airstrike on Iran
The Israeli military struck Iran early Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack on Israel five days earlier.
The Iranian officials said a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran, early Friday.
The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported the sound of blasts without giving a cause, according to The Associated Press. State television acknowledged “loud noise” in the area.
The scale of the attack was unclear. The Iranian officials said the attack was carried out by small drones, possibly launched from inside Iran, and that its radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace. They said a separate group of small drones was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.
Iranian news agencies reported explosions were heard near both cities, adding the nuclear facilities in Isfahan had not been hit.
In the immediate aftermath, flight-tracking websites showed civilian planes had diverted their routes away from the area, and Iranian news outlets reported several airports had been closed.
But within a few hours, Iran’s state television had broadcast footage of normal life resuming in Isfafan, and Iran’s aviation agency said it was lifting flight restrictions.
The Israeli military declined to comment. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The explosions came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300
missiles and drones at Israel, its first direct attack on the country, in response to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials April 1.
For days, Israeli leaders have threatened to respond to Iran’s strikes, which turned the yearslong shadow war into a direct confrontation.
Iran’s army chief, Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, said Wednesday that Iran would respond to any Israeli aggression, according to remarks carried by the IRNA state news agency.
President Joe Biden has advised Israel against responding amid fears an Israeli counterattack would escalate into an all-out war. For more than six months, Israel has been fighting on two other fronts — against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both are allies of Iran.
IRNA said air defenses fired at a major air base in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to The Associated Press.
Tasnim later published a video from one of its reporters, who said he was in the southeastern Zerdenjan area of Isfahan, near its “nuclear energy mountain.”
The footage showed two different anti-aircraft gun positions, and details of the video corresponded with known features of the site of Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan, The AP reported.