The recent UAV attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military facility at Isfahan on the 28 Jan 23 is giving the Iranians a chance to mock whoever conducted the attack. Several American news outlets have cited Israel for the operation but as usual the Israelis have not, nor are they likely to, comment on the incident. The Iranian Tehran Times wrote that the episode was another “unsuccessful attack” and that Israel had “failed to achieve its goals.” They quoted an unnamed Israel media source that allegedly stated, “Israeli media portrayed the attack as successful, something that stands in stark contrast to the reality on the ground.” The Islamic State claim that the attack allegedly caused minor damage, but this statement has not been verified by any outside source. The news outlet went on to say that the Americans were involved even though the United States distanced itself from the incident. The Iranians included them when describing “Israel’s failed adventure.” However, was the attack a failed venture? If Israel did carry out the latest drone attack on Israfan then this was a clever warning to Iran. To coordinate and fly three UAVs from Israel to the near centre of Iran is an exceptional achievement and sends a message to the Iranians. If it was Israel then not only can they fly their drones across the possible airspaces of Jordon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq undetected, the drones were also flown across the Arabian Gulf into Iranian airspace and onto their target. Iranian propaganda outlets state that at least one drone was destroyed in the attack, meaning two others got through and made it to the target before being terminated. A distance of approximately 1,586 Km or 986 miles with a flight time for a commercial aircraft of 2 hours and 22 minutes. Quite an achievement when you consider the distance and weather conditions that the drones flew. This should be quite a shock to the Iranians who boast of having the best drone service in the world. The alleged Israeli operation says a great deal about the Iranian anti-aircraft defence systems which should have detected the UAV presence as soon as the drones neared the airspace of Iran. This could have been another goal, to test the Iranian air radar. Iranian media would have you believe that Israel failed in its goals whatever they were. The question is, did they?
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