Iran downplays Israel attack as hawkish minister labels retaliation ‘lame’

Iranian officials claim that the country was not the target of a “foreign aerial attack,” as a dispute erupted inside Israel about whether Iran has faced sufficient punishment for last week’s missile attack.

“No foreign aerial attack has been carried out so far against Isfahan or other areas of the country,” Iranian Space Agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian wrote Friday on social media, adding that air defense systems shot down a number of small drones.

In the complex symbology of military retaliation and diplomatic communication, an Israeli drone attack orchestrated from inside Iran would be considered a less significant operation than an airstrike conducted from Israeli territory. So Iran’s public posture would suggest that the regime aims to avoid a continuance of the direct attacks that

Continue reading