Isfahan blast occurred as a refinery fire broke out and a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit.
Authorities claim that bomb-carrying drones attacked an Iranian defense factory in Isfahan’s central city overnight. This was amid increased regional and international tensions surrounding the Islamic Republic.
Three people were killed when an attack on Iran’s defense ministry came as a result of a refinery fire in the country’s northwest. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake also struck nearby.
As Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers has collapsed, drone strikes from Israel have been targeting Tehran. Tensions with Azerbaijan remain high after a gunman attacked the Iranian embassy in Tehran. The attacker killed its security chief and wounded two others.
The details of the Isfahan attack on Saturday at 11.30 pm remained scarce. According to a defence ministry statement, three drones were launched at the facility and two of them were successfully shot down. According to the ministry, another drone apparently hit the building, inflicting “minor damage” on its roof, but no injuries,
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Press TV, Iran’s English-language state television, broadcast a mobile phone video showing the moment the drone struck the busy Imam Khomeini expressway north-west of Isfahan. This is one of many routes to Tehran, Iran’s capital, and the holy city of Qom. An anti-aircraft fire attracted a small crowd to watch as sparks and explosions hit a dark building.
“Oh, my God!” “It was a drone,” the man filming shouts. After the attack, the bystanders fled.
The Associated Press analyzed footage from the strike and footage of its aftermath. It corresponded to a location on Minoo Street, north-western Isfahan, near a shopping center.
As Iran’s cities grow, Iranian nuclear and defense sites are increasingly surrounded by residential areas and commercial properties. Some areas are not clear about the products they produce. There is no sign with a logo bearing the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard or defence ministry logo.
Without describing what the site did, the defense ministry called it a “workshop”. Isfahan is 215 miles south of Tehran and hosts a large airbase for the F-14 fighter jets. It also houses its nuclear fuel research, production and testing centre.
After Iran’s intelligence ministry claimed in July that they had stopped a plot to attack sensitive sites in Isfahan, the attackers are now. In October, an Iranian state television segment featured purported confessions from members of Komala. This Kurdish opposition group that was exiled in Iran now lives in Iraq. They claimed that they had planned to attack a military aviation facility in Isfahan, having been trained by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Activists claim that Iranian state TV broadcast hundreds of forced confessions in the past decade. Israeli officials refused to comment.
Separately, Iran’s state TV reported that a fire broke out at an Iranian oil refinery located in an industrial area near Tabriz. The state TV said that the cause of the fire was unknown and showed footage of firefighters extinguishing the flames. Tabriz is located 325 miles west of Tehran.
State TV reported that the magnitude-5.9 earthquake was caused by the destruction of buildings in many villages and killed 3 people, while 816 were injured in rural areas in West Azerbaijan Province.
Iran’s theocratic government faces many challenges at home and abroad, as its nuclear program rapidly enriches its uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever since the collapse of the atomic agreement with world powers.
Since the September death of Mahsa Amini (a Kurdish-Iranian woman detained by the country’s morality police), protests across the country have been a constant occurrence. The rial currency of the country has fallen to new lows in comparison to the US dollar. Iran continues to arm Russia using the bomb-carrying drone it used in attacks on Ukrainian power plants and civilian targets.
Israel is suspected to have launched a series of attacks against Iran, including an attack on Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear facility in April 2021 that destroyed its centrifuges. Iran blamed Israel in 2020 for an attack that resulted in the death of its top military nuclear scientist.
Israeli officials are reluctant to acknowledge the operations of its secret military units and Mossad intelligence agency. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, recently regained his position. He has always considered Iran the greatest threat to his country. Despite growing tensions between Israel and the US, Israel just completed their largest military exercise.
Tensions between Azerbaijan, Iran and Armenia remain high as Azerbaijan has fought for the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran wants to keep its 44km (27 miles) border with Armenian landlocked, which could be threatened by Azerbaijan seizing new territory via war.
In October, Iran launched a military exercise close to the Azerbaijan border. Azerbaijan has also maintained close ties with Israel, which has angered Iranian hardliners. It has purchased Israeli-made drones to support its military.
Anwar Gargash is a senior Emirati diplomat who stated that the Isfahan attack was just one of the many events in the “dangerous escalated” situation the region is experiencing. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the UAE last year with missiles and drones.
فیلمی از لحظه انفجار در در یکی از مراکز مهماتسازی وزارت دفاع در #اصفهان.
ویدیو: رکنا https://t.co/aBildtGIAl pic.twitter.com/HKEojTCrKg
— Farzad Seifikaran (@FSeifikaran) January 28, 2023
Gargash tweeted that it “is not in our region’s best interests and its future.” “Although the issues in the region are complex and there is no other option than dialogue,” Gargash wrote on Twitter.
