Isfahan attack: Did Israel launch alleged strike from within Iran itself?

Iranian officials and state media have downplayed an attack inside Iran that was allegedly carried out by Israel in response to last weekend's barrage of missiles and drones from Tehran

A drone attack that was allegedly carried out by Israel on Friday in Iran's Isfahan, a city south of Tehran, may have been launched from within Iranian territory, according to Iranian state TV and officials.

Three drones "were observed in the sky over Isfahan" shortly after midnight, with the local air defence system destroying them, Iranian state TV said on Friday.

Citing officials from the United States (US), reports from earlier in the day had claimed that Israel may have struck Iran using missiles.

Meanwhile, state TV quoted a senior Iranian army commander, Siavosh Mihandoust, as saying that the air defence systems had targeted a "suspicious object". The commander added that the attack had not caused any damage.

 

In an unverified indication of where the attack could have originated, one analyst told Iranian state TV that small drones had been deployed by "infiltrators from inside Iran". The analyst added that these drones had been shot down by air defences in Isfahan.

Iran has no immediate plans for retaliation against Israel, Israeli media reported a senior Iranian official as saying on Friday.

While comments from a number of Israeli politicians practically accepted responsibility for the alleged attack in Isfahan, the Iranian official reportedly cast doubt on whether Israel was responsible.

The unnamed Iranian official said that the "foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed". He said that Iran had "not received any external attack", adding that "the discussion leans more toward infiltration than attack".

Earlier, Tehran had threatened that it would attack Israel should it retaliate for Saturday's missile and drone attack.

Israeli media highlighted that most official Iranian comments and news reports did not mention Israel, while analysts appearing on state television were dismissive about the scale of the alleged attack. 

While Israeli authorities did not comment officially, a number of politicians and former officials spoke out about the alleged strike.

Unnamed Israeli officials indicated that the alleged drone attack in Iran was meant to send a signal, instead of causing damage, reported the Times of Israel on Friday. 

The strike was intended to signal that Israel had the capability to reach Iran with its weapons, the Washington Post reported, citing an Israeli official.
 

Several unnamed US and Israeli officials told foreign press outlets on Friday that Israel was indeed behind the attack. 

"It's important Iran understand that when it acts against us, we have the ability to strike any point and we can do enormous damage...," Israel's former national security adviser Eyal Hulata reportedly said.

"Nobody wants war with Iran right now," said Natan Eshel, according to the Times of Israel, which described him as a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

"We proved to them that we can infiltrate and strike within their borders and they weren't able to inside ours," Eshel reportedly said, adding, "The messages are more important than the grandstanding. We currently have more important tasks both in Gaza and Lebanon." 

In an apparent reference to the attack in Iran, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a hardliner, tweeted a single word: "lame!" Israeli media reported that officials in Prime Minister Netanyahu's inner circle were displeased by Ben Gvir's remark for damaging national security. Israel's Opposition Leader, Yair Lapid, also slammed Ben Gvir.   

According to the Times of Israel, a number of Israeli politicians were unhappy about comments from their colleagues that appeared to confirm that Israel was the origin of the attack. 

Israel has employed a strategy of plausible deniability for years when it comes to attacking Tehran's interests within Iran or outside. Israel often declines to take responsibility for specific attacks. The ostensible goal is to give Iran or its proxies an excuse to not retaliate. 

In fact, Israel did not take responsibility for the April 1 strike on Iran's embassy in Damascus, Syria, that killed several members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, including a top officer. 

However, Iran responded last Saturday night by launching more than 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, with almost the whole wave of projectiles being shot down by Israel, the US, United Kingdom, France and Jordan.