Israeli Attack on Iran: Drones Hit Military Base in Isfahan

Early morning April 19, Israel responded to a recent Iranian attack by launching drones at a military base near the city of Isfahan in central Iran. US F-14 Tomcat aircraft, purchased before the 1979 Islamic revolution, are based there.

Various nuclear power plants and facilities related to Iranian nuclear projects, including the underground uranium enrichment center at Natanz, are located in the area. Israel made several attempts to hit it when a “shadow war” was fought between the two countries. Both Iran and the IAEA assured at the time that no damage had been done to the facilities after the raid.

The United States has let it known that it did not support today’s strike attributed to Israel, although it was informed of it in advance. This is different from the events of April 1, when the Iranian consulate in Damascus was hit. It provoked Iran’s recent retaliatory missile and drone strike on Israel, to which it has now responded.

The first Israeli comments came via The Washington Post: a source in Tel Aviv called the attack “a signal to Iran that Israel could strike targets inside the country.” On X social media, Israel’s national security minister and extreme right-wing hawk leader Ben Gvir called the attack “sluggish.”