An Israeli drone strike inside Iran hit an advanced weapons production facility in an attack that Israel believes achieved its goals, people familiar with discussions about the operation told The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The operation early Sunday morning was executed by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and targeted a Ministry of Defense site in Isfahan in central Iran, hitting a building in four different areas with precision strikes, the sources said.
Satellite photos showed what appeared to be minor damage to the site’s roof, but the people called the mission successful, without elaborating.
The account contradicts Iranian officials who have said the country’s air defenses had fended off an attempted attack on an ammunition depot that caused minimal damage.
The sources told The Wall Street Journal that the Ministry of Defense site that was targeted Sunday was a weapons production facility. It stands across the street from a site belonging to the Iran Space Research Center, which has been sanctioned by the US for its work on Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The report is in line with a New York Times report late on Sunday night which cited senior intelligence officials who said the Isfahan attack was the work of the Mossad.
The officials also told The New York Times that, while American officials publicly identified Iran as the primary supplier of drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, they believed this strike was prompted by Israel’s concerns about its own security, and not the potential for missile exports to Russia.
A report by the Saudi news site Al Arabiya al Hadath on Sunday claimed the drone attack was carried out by the US Air Force and the participation of another country, but emphasized that the Jewish state was not involved.
American officials quickly sent out word on Sunday morning that the United States was not responsible for the attack.