Israel carries out drone strike in Iran in first move by far-right government

Israel has carried out a drone strike targeting a defence compound in Iran, in what is the first known attack carried out by Israel under the new far-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iranian officials said that the country’s air defences had fended off an attempted attack by three small quadcopters targeting a munitions factory in the city of Isfahan, right next to a site belonging to the Iran Space Research Centre, which has been sanctioned by the United States for its work on Iran’s ballistic-missile programme.

Iran said its air defences brought down one of the drones while the two others exploded above the warehouse, causing minor damage to the roof.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called the blast a cowardly strike. “Such actions cannot impact the determination and intent of our experts for peaceful nuclear progress,” he told government news service PadDolat.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Israel’s latest strike comes as Israeli and American officials are discussing new ways to combat Iran’s deepening military cooperation with Russia. 

Netanyahu had already sanctioned a series of bold operations inside Iran when he last served in that role from 2009 to 2021.  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday to continue the talks about Iran. Last week, the U.S. and Israel carried out their largest-ever joint military exercise involving more than 7,500 personnel from both countries and a series of scenarios to test their ability to take out air-defence systems and refuel jet planes – both of which could be key elements of a major military strike on Iran.

Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israel Defene Forces’ chief of staff, said that the military exercises sent “a very clear message to Iran: If Iran makes mistakes, offense capabilities are getting ready.”

A nuclear containment deal with Iran that was spiked by Donald Trump has not been resurructed by President Joe Biden, but neither have the Americans provided an alternative.

And while Netanyahu has been pushing the U.S. to take a tougher stance against Iran, Israel has rebuffed American pressure to send Ukraine direct military aid, because of its understanding with Russia to have access for warplanes to strike Iranian targets inside Syria, where Moscow provides air defence for President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel is worried that open support for Ukraine could imperil its ability to strike Iranian targets in Syria.