Iran Downplays Israel’s Latest Attack as One Done by ‘Toys’

Arsalan Shahla, Bloomberg News

A drone drops seeds during a flight at the Dendra Systems test field in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Australia-based Dendra Systems which uses specialized drones to survey vast areas of scorched land and produce an action plan to restore plant and tree life says it can turbo-charge forest re-growth in the aftermath of devastating wildfires. The drones can then be used to sow seeds of native species much faster than traditional manual planting methods, at the same time providing a constant flow of real-time data on the progress of regeneration. Photographer: David Gray/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s foreign minister compared the drones used in an attack by Israel early Friday to “toys,” in comments that aimed at downplaying the significance of the strike on Iranian territory.

The drones intercepted in the central city of Isfahan “were more like toys that our children play with – not drones,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said in an interview with NBC News, his first since the Israeli incursion.

Iranian media said the attack “caused no damage or incident,” and Amirabdollahian told the US news network through an Iranian government interpreter that the development couldn’t properly be described as a “strike” due to its limited scope and lack of severity.

In a report contradicting Tehran’s account, though, ABC News cited a senior US official who wasn’t identified, saying Israel launched an additional three missiles targeting an air defense unit stationed near a nuclear facility in Isfahan.

The projectiles struck a target, according to the ABC report. Tehran labeled the attack as a “sabotage” operation, denying that it had been targeted by missiles from outside the country.

Friday’s action marked the latest development in tit-for-tat retaliations between Israel and its arch-enemy Iran. It followed the Islamic Republic’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel a week ago, which Tehran said it carried out in response to a suspected Israeli assault on its consulate in Syria on April 1.

Amirabdollahian told NBC that Iran had no current intention to strike back at Israel.

“If Israel retaliates and comes up with a new adventurism, then we will respond,” he said. “But if not, then we are done. We are concluded.”

Separately, authorities in Iraq on Saturday said they were investigating a blast at a military base south of Baghdad belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iran-backed militia force that operates within Iraq’s armed forces.

One person was killed and eight injured in the explosion, the Associated Press reported, citing Iraqi authorities.

--With assistance from Khalid Al-Ansary.

(Updates with Iraq military base explosion in final two paragraphs.)

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