Iran threatens retaliation as it blames Israel for drone attack
Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran, Jan. 29, 2023. (Reuters Photo)


Iran's envoy to the United Nations said arch-enemy Israel was "responsible" for a drone attack on a defense ministry site in central Isfahan province, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

"Preliminary investigations show the Zionist regime (Israel) is responsible for the terrorist attack on the defense ministry workshop complex," ISNA news agency quoted Amir Saeid Iravani as saying in a letter to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.

Iravani did not elaborate on the investigations but referred to recent occasions on which Israeli officials had threatened to attack Iranian infrastructure.

He called on the U.N. Security Council to "condemn the belligerent statements of the Zionist authorities and ask this regime to comply with international laws and end its dangerous programs and destructive activities in the region."

Iranian authorities reported an "unsuccessful" drone attack late Saturday that targeted a defense ministry "workshop complex" in central Isfahan province.

An anti-aircraft system destroyed one drone and two others exploded, the defense ministry said, adding that there were no casualties and only minor damage to the site.

Iran has been engaged in a shadow war with Israel for years. It has accused it of being behind a series of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear program, carried out alongside the United States.

"Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right to defend its national security and resolutely respond to any threat or wrongdoing of the Zionist regime wherever and whenever it deems necessary," Iravani said.

On Wednesday, Iran's Nour News Agency, considered close to the Supreme National Security Council, accused Iraq-based Kurdish groups of being involved in the attack.

It charged that Kurdish groups brought the drone parts and explosive materials into Iran on "the order of a foreign security service."