Thread by @michaelh992

Video of an explosion inside a defense facility in Isfahan last night #Iran

The Iranian Defense Ministry claimed that three drones targeted the facility, and that only the roof of the building was damaged

This also comes amidst several videos showing explosions in other areas of #Iran, including in the East Azerbaijan province

Iranian media outlets have not confirmed the other incidents (outside of the one in Isfahan), though they are reporting an "earthquake" in some of the locations mentioned in the videos.

Notably it seems that the warehouse attacked last night in #Iran is right in front of a facility tied to the Iranian Space Research Center

The facility is the Isfahan-based Materials and Energy Research Institute, one of the branches of the Iranian Space Research Center.

The space center itself was targeted by US sanctions that were aimed at "proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and WMD delivery systems"

I think this makes it quite a notable strike.

We don't know enough, but this could point to the possibility that Israel is moving from targeting uranium enrichment, and is now focusing on weapon delivery systems (though again it's speculation at this point).

In other words, Israel may be looking to prevent Iran from mounting a bomb onto a missile, rather than (or in addition to) efforts to thwart its nuclear /uranium-enrichment program per se.

If true (and again this is based on speculation), this would be a significant development, that could also suggest we've reached an even more dangerous phase of the shadowy war between #Israel and #Iran.

The other possibility I can think of is that the goal was to hit ballistic missiles/missile component or equipment use to manufacture missiles >>

The Iranian Space Research Center has a history of working with the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which is believed to be in charge of Iran's liquid-fueled ballistic missile program.

Interesting details on the attack released by Iran's IRNA news agency: The agency appears to suggest that the facility was already attacked in the past and that "arrangements" were taken to thwart future attacks
en.irna.ir/news/85013395/…

These "arrangements" are likely the "defensive traps" mentioned in the first Iranian reports. There is a referrence to jamming of one of the quadcopters, and satellite imagery suggesting a defensive structure have been built on the roof of other sensitive facilities

The article also claims Iranian forces were able to take control over one of the quadcopters that suffered "less damage"

Two impacts and some of the "defensive traps" I mentioned earlier seen in this picture