2024-04-20 12:17:00
NYT “Natanz Air Defense Network Damaged… Radar Defense Evasion” “A firm message showing the ability to neutralize air defense networks and nuclear weapons.”
While Iran claims that there was no real damage caused by the Israeli attack, the New York Times reported on the 20th (local time) that some defense systems were damaged in this attack.
According to the New York Times, Western and Iranian officials reported that an Israeli attack on the 19th damaged a defense system near the city of Natanz in central Iran.
Two Iranian officials said Israeli weapons hit an S-300 anti-aircraft system at a military base in neighboring Isfahan province. Satellite images analyzed by The New York Times also showed that the radar of the S-300 system at the 8th Air Base in Isfahan had been damaged.
It is unclear what weapon was used. However, Western and Iranian officials confirmed that Israel had deployed aerial drones and that at least one missile had been fired from a fighter jet.
The missile was launched from a fighter jet far from Israeli or Iranian airspace and is believed to have contained technology that might evade Iranian radar defenses. It did not enter Jordanian airspace.
Iranian officials said the Iranian military had not detected anything entering that airspace, including drones, missiles or aircraft. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that there was no missile attack and that Iran’s air defense system had not been activated.
Iranian officials had previously dismissed the attack as likely carried out with small drones and most likely launched from inside Iranian territory.
Western officials believe the attack was a calculated attack intended to send a message that Iran might circumvent its defense systems undetected and cripple its air defenses.
Two Western officials told the New York Times that Israel had abandoned an initial plan to respond to the Iranian attack on the 13th with a massive counterattack, replacing it with an attack aimed at sending a quiet but firm message to end to the cycle of retaliation.
The use of undetectable drones and missiles launched from Iran is also seen as a kind of “foretaste” of how a large-scale attack will be carried out once morest Iran.
In particular, nuclear experts believe that this attack on Natanz has significant implications, as Israel has repeatedly carried out bombing and missile operations to eliminate Iran’s nuclear production capabilities for more than 10 years.
Natanz is Iran’s main nuclear production line, where large quantities of natural uranium are fed into centrifuges to convert it into UF6, a gas that can be used to generate electricity or produce nuclear fuel for nuclear weapons .
The fact that neither Iranian nor Israeli officials have publicly commented on the attack is being interpreted as a move aimed at allaying fears of an escalation of the war.
An Iranian official told the New York Times that if Israel remains silent regarding this attack, Iran may also view this attack as a covert attack as part of a shadow war and not call for an immediate response.
“This airstrike was precise and limited,” said Dana Stroul of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. “It might completely pierce Iran’s air defenses, sending a message that the Iranian army cannot protect its military bases once morest external attacks.” “It has been delivered,” he analyzed.
However, “the damage is limited,” he predicted. “The cycle of escalation might end if Iranian leaders decide that further escalation is not worth the risk of an even more deadly and costly attack on their own territory. »
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