Iran is pushing several narratives about a drone attack on a military facility in Isfahan. Air defense force commander Alireza Sabahifard said that Iran is ready for “any threat” at pro-IRGC Fars News on Monday.
Iran’s Mehr news also says that Russian “intel services” are analyzing the recent attack on an Iranian “military site.” This would appear to contradict reports at Iran’s other pro-government newsite Tasnim that says the attack was a failure.
“The Iranian Defense Ministry announced that its air defense units have repelled a drone attack on a military workshop in the central city of Isfahan,” Mehr notes. If Iran had repelled the attack, then why does the same media say Russia is so outraged and interested?
If it was a failure why is Iran seeking out the Russians?
“In any case, we only need to condemn any such actions that are directed against a sovereign state,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday, Russia’s pro-government Sputnik reported.
“We strongly condemn any provocative actions that could potentially provoke an uncontrolled escalation of tension in an already far-from-calm region,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. “Such destructive actions can have unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East.”
"In any case, we only need to condemn any such actions that are directed against a sovereign state."
The Kremlin
Meanwhile, Iran has summoned Ukraine’s envoy over comments made by a Ukraine government adviser that seemed to say that Tehran had been “warned” about providing drones to Russia, which has used Iranian-supplied Shahed drones to attack Ukraine.
The Iranian reports now seem to indicate that the Islamic Republic wants to cement the Russia-Iran partnership, at least on drone issues. Moscow has hinted at “unpredictable consequences.”
Mehr news quoted a source at Sputnik’s Persian service saying that “the unmanned aerial vehicles involved in Saturday’s attack were ordinary off-the-shelf drones, not ‘strike UAVs,’ as initially reported in some quarters.”
This suggests commercially available drones that are harder to trace because “off-the-shelf” means they are generic.
Press TV in Iran meanwhile says the explosion that occurred due to the drone attack happened at a defense industry complex.
Did Iran succeed or is Russia interested? It can't be both
Meanwhile, in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian told the media that “this cowardly act was carried out today as part of efforts by the enemies of the Iranian nation in recent months to make the Islamic Republic insecure.”
IRNA, Another Iranian website, reported about Russia’s condemnation of the attack as well. “Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced that a quadcopter drone attack on a defense industrial complex in the central Iranian province of Isfahan has failed.” The use of the term “quadcopter” is interesting here because it also hints at small drones – and quadcopters tend to be commercially available recreational drones. However, quadcopter-style drones don’t usually have a long range.
Mehr News did not elaborate on its statement that Russian “intel” was interested in the attack.
TASS state media said “Moscow... is trying their best to get a full picture of what happened.”
This report said that “naturally, our services are analyzing information to get the more or less full picture of the incident,” the Kremlin official said, “replying to a question asking whether Russia has any intel on who may have been behind the drone attack on Iran.”
This comment by Russia doesn’t seem to go as far as the Iranians would like. Russia is “analyzing” the information, is interested and perhaps concerned.
The overall narrative by the plethora of Iranian state and semi-state media offers only a vague response as to what might come next.
Clearly, Iran wants Russia to be interested in the drone attack and wants to condemn Ukraine for appearing to make light of it, to shore up its alliance with Russia.
Iran is selling drones to Russia, which has used those drones to attack Ukraine. However what is unclear but important to know is whether Russia, as a result of the attack, will run low on stocks.