The alleged Israeli strike overnight Thursday-Friday on Iranian air defenses near the Natanz nuclear site used a high-tech missile that was able to evade Iran’s radar systems, in a move "calibrated to make Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...think twice" before launching another direct attack on Israel, The New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported on Saturday.
Two unnamed Western officials cited by the newspaper said the missile aimed to show Tehran that Israel is able to dodge and neutralize its defenses.
Two Iranian officials said the strike hit a Russian-made S-300 air defense system. They told the newspaper that Iran had not detected intrusions into its airspace from drones, missiles or aircraft.
The newspaper said the missile was from a warplane fired "far from Israeli or Iranian airspace."
The report also said that neither the plane nor the missile entered Jordanian airspace — a calculated move to keep Amman out of any potential ramifications for the reprisal strike, after it helped shoot down some of the hundreds of drones and missiles fired by Iran at Israel last weekend.
Satellite imagery seen by the Times of Israel showed damage to the radar of an S-300 system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan, said to be part of an array defending the nearby top-secret Natanz nuclear site. The imagery was not immediately permitted for publication, per the policy of the agency that took the photo.
Additional synthetic aperture radar satellite images taken Friday also showed evidence that the radar site was targeted.
The New York Times said the strike was deliberately designed to send a message on how a wider attack could look, with Israel able to penetrate Iranian defenses undetected.
US defense officials also told The New York Times that there was concern the precedent set by the nations’ direct exchanges of blows this week could encourage further rounds of violence in the future.
Other effects could be an Iranian effort to better protect its nuclear assets and make them harder to attack, as well a potential push to move weaponry closer to Israel in case of another confrontation, experts told the paper.
US media reported Friday that the alleged Israeli strike in Iran went beyond the scope of several small drones described by Tehran. ABC news was the first to report that the air defenses at Isfahan were part of an array defending the nearby top-secret Natanz site.
Citing "senior US military sources," Fox News reported that the target of the strike was a military base in Isfahan, and not the heavily fortified nuclear facilities themselves, which lie some 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the north of the city, largely buried under a mountain.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in New York to attend a United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
Security Council meeting on the Middle East, likened the strike on Friday to child’s play.
Speaking to NBC News through a translator, Amir-Abdollahian said the drones had taken off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed.
"What happened last night was no attack," said Amir-Abdollahian. "It was the flight of two or three quad-copters, which are at the level of toys that our children use in Iran."
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
the reports that Israel had fired at least one missile appear to correlate with debris found in Iraq in the morning after residents of Baghdad reported hearing sounds of explosions.
Images showed what appeared to be parts of a two-stage standoff air-to-surface missile near Latifiya, southwest of Baghdad, which would have fallen away after the missile launch, although this remains unconfirmed.
Israel has several types of these munitions available for its air force, raising the possibility it was fired as part of the attack.
Also, around the time of the incident in Iran, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement saying Israel carried out a missile strike targeting a southern air defense unit and causing damage. The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor of unclear funding, said the strike hit a military radar for government forces.
That area of Syria is directly west of Isfahan, some 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away and east of Israel, and could provide an indication of the route taken by Israeli jets.
The facility at Isfahan operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors, as well as handling fuel production and other activities for Iran’s nuclear program.
The deeply fortified underground Natanz enrichment site, meanwhile, has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli sabotage attacks.
Iran’s nuclear program has rapidly advanced to producing enriched uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels since the collapse of its atomic deal with world powers, after then-US president Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
withdrew America from the accord in 2018.
Report: Israel used air-to-surface missile called ‘The Rampage’ in Iran attack
| And so we know more than the journalists of the New York Times — see how easy it is? ;-) |
The Kan broadcaster reports that The Rampage was identified from photos and also matches the extent of the damage caused in the attack.
The 4.7-meter (15-foot) rocket can also travel at supersonic speed, making it difficult to detect and intercept using air defense systems such as the Iron Dome.
The Rampage, which weighs over half a ton and was unveiled in 2018, was designed to penetrate into and destroy protected areas, like bunkers, according to its manufacturers, Israeli Military Industries Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
Related:
S-300 04-/20/2024 Russian Perspective: Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (19 April 2024)S-300 04-/20/2024 Current information on the situation on the front line: April 19 (updated)S-300 04-/20/2024 Israelis were targeting an air defense radar site near Isfahan that's part of the protection of the Natanz nuclear facility
S-300 04-/20/2024 Russian Perspective: Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (19 April 2024)S-300 04-/20/2024 Current information on the situation on the front line: April 19 (updated)S-300 04-/20/2024 Israelis were targeting an air defense radar site near Isfahan that's part of the protection of the Natanz nuclear facility