(Dan Tri) – Iranian officials continue to downplay the incident of Israel’s alleged precision strike with drones (UAVs) on an Iranian military base.
A sign with pictures of Iranian missiles on a Tehran street (Photo: Reuters).
In an interview with NBC on April 20, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Tehran is investigating the incident of a UAV being shot down in the area of its air base in Isfahan province on the morning of April 19.
He said these UAVs took off from inside Iran and flew a few hundred meters before being shot down.
Therefore, Foreign Minister Amirabdollahia said that Tehran does not intend to take any further retaliatory measures against Israel.
On the contrary, he warned, if the Israeli government continues to take provocative steps, `Iran’s response will be immediate and at its maximum and will make them regret it.`
On the morning of April 19, Israel is said to have attacked an air base inside Iranian territory in response to Iran’s previous firing of more than 300 missiles and UAVs aimed at Israel.
The New York Times cited a number of satellite images showing that Israel appears to have accurately attacked Iran’s Shekari air base, destroying the radar used for the S-300 air defense complex.
The precision of the attack deep inside Iran and with several sensitive locations nearby shows that Israel chose a specific and narrow target, the New York Times assessed.
However, while Israel continued to remain silent, Iran affirmed that it was not an Israeli retaliatory attack.
A Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel attacked the air base with missiles fired from outside Iran and that Iran was taking the incident lightly.
The diplomat said: `It doesn’t look good if Iran has to admit its air defenses cannot stop these attacks. They really don’t want to escalate because this suggests Israel will prevail.`
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated seriously since the beginning of this month when the sides `tit for tat` with military responses to each other’s territory.
However, both sides seem to be calculating cautiously because they do not want a widespread conflict in the region.
Speaking about the firing of more than 300 missiles and UAVs aimed at Israel on April 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian said this was just a `warning`.