Three Drones Downed After Explosions Heard In Iran’s Isfahan
Iran’s air defences have brought down three small drones over the central city of Isfahan, state media reported, hours after United States broadcasters, quoting senior US officials, said Israeli missiles had hit an Iranian site.
Iranian state television reported explosions in Isfahan as air defences were activated and flights across several areas, including the capital, Tehran, and Isfahan, were suspended.
Airspace was reopened about four and a half hours after the incident and there were no reports of casualties.
Second Brigadier General Siavash Mihandoust, the top military official in Isfahan, told state media that air defence batteries hit “a suspicious object” and there was no damage.
ABC News and CBS News had reported earlier that Israel had carried out a military operation in Iran.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the US told the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers that it had been “informed at the last minute” by Israel about an attack on Iran.
“But there was no sharing of the attack by the US. It was a mere information,” Tajani told reporters in Capri, Italy, where the G7 ministers met.
However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to confirm reports about the Israeli attack, during a news conference in Capri.
“I’m not going to speak to that, except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operation,” Blinken said.
Iranian media said no strikes were launched on Iran from outside the country, and the attack was believed to have been carried out using small quadcopters that would have to have been launched from inside Iran.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said Iranian media were downplaying the incident.
“The location in Isfahan province is an Iranian military airbase that belongs to the country’s army, and not the Revolutionary Guards [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC]. I think it’s important to highlight that,” she said. “This base houses multiple squadrons of F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft.”
“We also understand that the air defence systems over the city of Tabriz in the northwestern part of Iran were also activated,” Jabbari reported.
‘No damage’ to nuclear facilities
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that “there is no damage” to Iranian nuclear sites as the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi called for restraint and said nuclear facilities should never be targeted in military conflicts.
