New York Times report: Attack on Iranian military facility was carried out by a drone

 

The explosion that occurred this week at a structure in the Parchin military technology complex in Iran was hit by a drone, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Three Iranians with knowledge of the attack and a US official told the newspaper that the drone strike targeted a highly sensitive military site.

The strike on Wednesday evening hit the site of the Parchin military complex, located about 37 miles southeast of the capital, with quadcopter suicide drones, according to the Iranian sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The drones exploded into a building used by the Ministry of Defense for research on drone development, killing a young engineer who worked at the ministry and injuring another person, they said.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, The New York Times said that the attack fit a pattern of past strikes on Iran and Lebanon attributed to Israel.

Israeli officials refused to comment. A US official confirmed that suicide drones had attacked Parchin but did not say who was behind it or offer any further details.

The drone attack was launched from inside Iran, not far from the Parchin military base, according to the Iranian sources with knowledge of the attack. Quadcopter drones have a short flight range, and Parchin is a long way from Iran’s borders.

A statement by Iran’s Ministry of Defense on Thursday used the word “incident” instead of “accident” to describe what happened at Parchin and called the engineer who died a “martyr,” a clear indication that his death was viewed as a result of an enemy action. The statement said one of the research units of the Defense Ministry in the Parchin area was hit.

In June 2020, an explosion occurred at the Parchin military site, but it was not clear what caused it.

In 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that some countries were suspicious that Iran had experimented with developing nuclear weapons at Parchin.

Satellite footage from 2012 showed that Iran was carrying out clean-up activity at Parchin, where it was suspected Iran may have conducted high explosive compression related to the development of nuclear weapons.

Iran initially refused to allow IAEA inspectors access to Parchin, but IAEA inspectors eventually gained access to the site in 2015.