Explosions heard near Iranian military base days after Israel vowed to respond to earlier Iranian attack

Explosions echoed over an Iranian city in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident, which closed airspace for a time on Friday.

Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from Iran’s air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan. Notably, they referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators,” rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.

Israel said nothing about the incident. It had said for days it was planning to retaliate against Iran for strikes on April 13, the first ever direct attack on Israel by Iran in decades of shadow war waged by proxies, which has escalated throughout the Middle East through six months of battle in Gaza.

The two longstanding foes had been heading toward direct confrontation since a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1 that destroyed a building in Iran’s embassy compound in Syria and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.

Israel builds case that ignoring Iran’s attack is not an option

Israeli leaders are trying to build a case that ignoring Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack is not an option, as many of the country’s allies urge de-escalation.

Iran’s response, with a direct attack on Israel, was unprecedented but caused no deaths and only minor damage because Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of missiles and drones.

Allies including the United States had since been pressing hard to ensure any further retaliation would be calibrated not to provoke a spiral of hostilities. Western countries tightened sanctions on Iran to mollify Israel.

“It is absolutely necessary that the region remains stable and that all sides restrain from further action,” EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said. Similar calls came from Beijing and from Arab states in the region.

In a sign of pressure within Israel’s hard-right government for a stronger response, Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister tweeted a single word after Friday’s strikes: “Feeble!.”

‘Suspicious object’

Within Iran, news reports on Friday’s incident made no mention of Israel, and state television carried analysts and pundits who appeared dismissive about the scale.

An analyst told state TV that mini drones flown by “infiltrators from inside Iran” had been shot down by air defences in Isfahan.

Shortly after midnight, “three drones were observed in the sky over Isfahan. The air defence system became active and destroyed these drones in the sky,” Iranian state TV said.

Doubt whether Iran sanctions will have effect or calm tensions

As the U.S. and allies level new sanctions against the Iranian regime and individuals associated with making its drones, at least one expert doubts whether they will have an effect or calm tensions in the region.

Senior army commander Siavosh Mihandoust was quoted by state TV as saying air defence systems had targeted a “suspicious object.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned Israel before Friday’s strike that Tehran would deliver a “severe response” to any attack on its territory.

Iran told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the UN secretary general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril.”

By morning, Iran had reopened airports and airspace that were shut during the strikes.

Still, there was alarm over security in Israel and elsewhere. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem restricted U.S. government employees from travel outside Jerusalem, greater Tel Aviv and Beersheba “out of an abundance of caution.”

In a statement, the embassy warned U.S. citizens of a “continued need for caution and increased personal security awareness as security incidents often take place without warning.”

Iran says nuclear site is ‘fully safe’

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Gaza’s health department says more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks by Israel, and roughly 80 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced by the conflict.

Iran-backed groups have declared support for Palestinians, carrying out attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, raising fears the Gaza conflict could grow into a wider regional war.

Isfahan is home to a major airbase for the Iranian military, as well as sites associated with its nuclear program such as its underground Natanz enrichment site — the centrepiece of Iran’s uranium program — that has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli attacks. However, state television described all sites in the area as “fully safe.”

While Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, Western nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say Tehran operated a secret military weapons program until 2003. The IAEA has warned that Iran now holds enough enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons if it chose to do so, though the U.S. intelligence community maintains Tehran is not actively seeking the bomb.