Israel Targets Iran Military Facility In Drone Attack: Report

Israel reportedly targeted an Iranian Defense Ministry military facility in a drone attack on Saturday night in the city of Isfahan, located in the central part of the country.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal published Sunday morning, U.S. officials and other sources confirmed Israel was responsible for the operation.

Three quadcopter bomb-carrying drones were involved in the strike and shot down by defense systems around 11:30 p.m. local time, according to the Iranian government. Two of the drones were stopped by “defense traps,” while the third was destroyed by air defense systems, according to the BBC. The thwarted attacks caused minor damage to the roof of the facility, which is believed to be an ammunition manufacturing plant. 

“One of (the drones) was hit by the … air defense and the other two were caught in defense traps and blew up. Fortunately, this unsuccessful attack did not cause any loss of life and caused minor damage to the workshop’s roof,” the ministry said in a statement. 

An apparent video from the scene captured a loud bang and a bright flash of light. 

فیلمی از لحظه انفجار در در یکی از مراکز مهمات‌سازی وزارت دفاع در #اصفهان.

ویدیو: رکنا https://t.co/aBildtGIAl pic.twitter.com/HKEojTCrKg

— Farzad Seifikaran (@FSeifikaran) January 28, 2023

“(The attack) has not affected our installations and mission…and such blind measures will not have an impact on the continuation of the country’s progress,” the ministry added. 

Quadcopter drones have four rotors and a short flight range, according to the New York Times. Authorities believe the drones took off from inside Iran and were likely organized within Iran based on the distance of the facility from the border, the outlet added. The incident was reportedly similar to another thwarted attack in June 2021 on an Iranian Atomic Energy Agency facility.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, according to Reuters. Some initially suspected the operation could have been at the hands of Israel, which is engaged in a shadow war with the Islamist nation and attempting to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. The New York Times reported that social media Telegram channels related to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard blamed Israel. 

One post by an account affiliated with the Iran Revolutionary Guard warned: “Wait for rogue drones hitting Zionist oil tankers.” 

An oil refinery fire also broke out in the northwest part of the country yesterday. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Iran has been rocked in recent months by massive protests stemming from the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in September for alleged improper wear of her hijab.

Growing Standoff Emerges Between Senate Intel And Biden Admin Over Classified Docs

Senators vowed to push back against the Biden administration for refusing to provide access to classified documents found at the residences of two presidents.

Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee left a classified briefing Wednesday with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in an uproar, arguing they are being prevented from performing their congressional oversight duties for the sake of national security.

As reported by CNN, Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) warned “all things will be on the table” to gain access to the documents as the committee was united in wanting to know “if there’s been any intelligence compromised.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsels to investigate former President Donald Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s handling of documents, which senators said was the justification the intelligence community gave to withhold information from Congress.

“The bottom line is this: They won’t tell us what they have until the special counsel allows them to tell us. That’s an unacceptable position,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to NBC News.

Lawmakers have been pressing the intelligence community to conduct damage assessments since the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last year. The sense of urgency has only grown since classified materials were found in recent months at President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, residence and think tank office in Washington, D.C., dating back to his time as a senator and vice president. Last week, the public learned classified documents were also discovered at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence.

Accusing the Biden administration of “stonewalling” Congress, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) signaled he is ready to turn up the “pain” by holding up Biden’s nominees — a strategy he’s used in the past — or withholding budgetary funds, according to The Hill.

“I’m prepared to refuse consent to fast-track any nominee from any department or agency and to take every step that I can on every committee on which I serve to impose consequences on the administration until they provide these documents,” said Cotton, who is also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Haines has yet to comment publicly on the standoff with senators, but she did talk Thursday about preserving “confidence” in the intelligence community’s work by conducting briefings with Congress on a bipartisan basis.

During a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library, Haines insisted she tries to emphasize “what we’re doing is for the nation and not for politics,” according to The Washington Examiner. She also said: “If the public doesn’t trust us and believes that we are biased politically or otherwise frankly in a way that is illegitimate, then people won’t pay attention to the warnings that we have — it makes us less effective from a national security perspective.”