Explosion at military facility
Drone attack on munitions factory in Iran
01/29/2023, 05:20 am
Several drones attack a military complex near the Iranian city of Isfahan during the night. The Islamic Republic maintains several nuclear research facilities in the area. There was no major damage, state media write.
An explosion occurred in Iran overnight. As the state news agency IRNA reported, a defense ministry ammunition factory near the metropolis of Isfahan in central Iran was attacked with several small aircraft. The agency Fars published about it a video an explosion. According to state media, one of the drones was destroyed by anti-aircraft defenses while two others exploded. The attack caused minor damage to the roof of a building, it said. Nobody was injured.
The authorities did not provide any further information on the affected military installation. Iran has several nuclear research facilities in the region, including a uranium conversion facility. In April 2021, Tehran announced that production of uranium enriched to 60 percent had started at the Natans site in Isfahan province.
Nuclear deal negotiations deadlocked
In recent years, Tehran has accused Israel of several covert actions on Iranian soil, including the killing of scientist Mohsen Fakhrisadeh. The nuclear physicist was killed in an attack on his car near Tehran in November 2020. Fakhrisadeh was under US sanctions for his role in Iran’s nuclear program when he was killed. Israel has never commented on the killing.
Negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal have been stuck for months. The agreement was intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure that the country would not build nuclear weapons. It was negotiated by the USA, China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Iran.
However, under the then US President Donald Trump, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on Tehran. As a result, Iran also gradually withdrew from its obligations under the agreement and restricted inspections of its facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The United States has now put the resumed negotiations on hold because of the brutal crackdown by Iranian security forces on the protest movement in the country.