Free Republic

Israel was behind the bombing of an Iranian military facility Sunday, a report released Sunday afternoon claimed, contradicting an earlier report by an Arabic media outlet. Early Sunday morning, a loud blast was reported at a military site in the city of Isfahan, Iran, state media outlet IRIB reported. Iran downplayed the incident, calling it an “unsuccessful” drone attack. "The explosion took place in one of the munitions manufacturing centers of the Defense Ministry and according to an announcement by the political and security deputy head of Isfahan Governorate, there were no casualties," IRIB reported. "One of (the drones) was...

Multiple blasts were reported in Iran Saturday night, as drones of an unknown origin carried out attacks on critical Iranian defense production facilities. At the time of this writing, there are no confirmed details on the number of attacks and the targets other than the major ammunition plant at Isfahan. Isfahan is Iran’s third largest city and located about 270 miles south of Tehran.UPDATE: Explosion at Military Plant in Isfahan #Iran, local media saying it’s by drone targeting munitions manufacturing centers. Video: pic.twitter.com/t7sLXENoZK— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 29, 2023The below map shows the unofficial tally of strikes.Tehran’s Mehrabad airport is...

(excerpt) The member, identified as Reza Dastani, was killed on his way to work. Efforts are underway to identify and arrest the assailants. (excerpt)The assassination comes just days after IRGC Col. Davoud Jafari was killed in a roadside bombing near Damascus that Iran has blamed on Israel. The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that Jafari served as an adviser for the IRGC Aerospace Force in Syria and was among one of the Iranian officials responsible for the seizure of two US Navy command boats carrying 10 US personnel in the Persian Gulf in January 2016. The Intelli Times blog revealed...

HERZLIYA, Israel, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Israel's defence minister accused Iran on Sunday of providing foreign militias with drone training at an airbase near the city of Isfahan, a month after Tehran came under global scrutiny over a suspected drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off Oman. In what his office described as a new disclosure, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Iran was using Kashan airbase north of Isfahan to train "terror operatives from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in flying Iranian-made UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)." Iran was also trying to "transfer know-how that would allow the manufacturing of UAVs...

A complex that houses a factory that makes Iranian drones has suffered a major explosion days after Israel had claimed that Iran was providing drones to Hamas in Gaza. The blast at the weekend injured at least nine workers at the petrochemical factory in Isfahan. The Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (Hesa), which produces a variety of aircraft and drones for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, is located in the complex owned by Sepahan Nargostar Chemical Industries. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Thursday showed the remains of what he described as an Iranian drone that was downed on Tuesday...

Israel has praised the Lockheed Martin F-35 as a “game-changer”. Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) commander Brigadier General Farzad Ismaili, who had been in office since 2010, has been fired by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he kept secret that Israeli Air Force (IAF) F-35 stealth fighters had violated Iran’s airspace, the Kuwaiti daily Al Jarida reported on Saturday. The newspaper emphasized that it was the original media source that exposed the Israeli raids, which had taken place in March 2018. Al Jarida cited senior Iranian military who said that only following its March report did...

In 1995, former Iranian president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani made a little-noticed trip to the neighboring country of Georgia. He spent several hours in Tbilisi, the capital, and then instead of returning to Iran, he made a secret side trip to the breakaway region of Adjara to visit President Aslan Abashidze. The purpose of the detour was not to visit the balmy, palm-treed tourist sea port resort of Batumi on the Black Sea. His purpose was more sinister. The Iranian president was looking for black market sources of chemicals to enrich uranium for building a nuclear bomb. He found a willing...

On Monday Oct 8.2018 , merchants in several Iranian cities went on strike and refused to open for business in an extension of ongoing protests against the regime of Tehran. The strike, which was preplanned and widely distributed across social media channels, is in protest to increasing prices and high inflation rates. The protest movement comprises 25 of Iran’s major cities Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, commended the brave bazaar merchants and shopkeepers in Tehran and dozens of other Iranian cities who are on strike against the mullahs' corrupt regime. She said that the bazaar strike, coming...

Iranian army's ground force will hold a military drill to test its missile power capacities, Commander of the Army's Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said. The military exercise dubbed "Beit ol-Moqaddas 27" will take place in Iran's central province of Esfahan on May 23-24, Pourdastan said, IRNA news agency reported. “Rocket and missile capabilities of the army's ground force are improved, the commander said, adding the capabilities will be evaluated in the two-day exercise. Tehran held a similar drill last May and tested a series of its newest domestically-made missiles. Iranian media outlets report that Iran has made...

According to first unconfirmed reports, central Tehran was hit Sunday night with massive blasts leaving many hundreds of people dead. Witnesses report heavy Revolutionary Guards and Basij forces speeding to the area. Thee are also reports of explosions in the southern Iranian town of Isfahan - also unconfirmed.

Guardian – Conflicting reports have emerged from Iran over an explosion heard in the central city of Isfahan, close to the country’s sensitive nuclear facilities. Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency quoted a judiciary official in Isfahan, saying that an explosion had been heard. “We heard a sound similar to that of an explosion but we have received no reports about its causes and the consequences so far,” said Gholamreza Ansari, in quotes carried by Isna. He said the explosion did not appear to be of any significance.

Iranian officials tell citizens to vacate city located near nuke site Iranian officials have instructed residents of Isfahan to leave the city, renewing concerns that a nearby nuclear site could be leaking radioactive material. An edict issued Wednesday by Iranian authorities orders Isfahan’s one-and-a-half million people to leave the city “because pollution has now reached emergency levels,” the BBC reported. However, outside observers suspect that the evacuation order may corroborate previous reports indicating that a uranium enrichment facility near Isfahan had been leaking radioactive material. Tehran went to great lengths in December to deny these reports, telling state-run media outlets...

The Ayatollah’s Nuclear Gamble written by Khosrow B. Semnani, and published by the Hinckley Institute of Politics, University of Utah has concluded a strike would include four sites and irradiate up to 100,000 Iranian citizens and soldiers. The four locations include: Isfahan: The Nuclear Technology/Research Center in Esfahan (ENTC) is supposed to be the main location of the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Semnani predicts 1,000 workers here will be killed, and up to 70,000 casualties in the surrounding areas from toxic plumes: 71,000 Natanz: One-hundred miles north of Isfhahan, this location has been in use for about 12 years and...

Seven hundred workers at the Sepahan Cement factory in Isfahan have entered their third day of strike to protest their unfavourable legal and working conditions. ILNA reports that since the workers’ efforts to satisfy their demands through the Ministry of Labour have yielded no results, 700 workers have stopped work in the past three days and have been gathering for protests on factory grounds. The report indicates that the cement plant has 1,100 contract and permanent workers who produce 13,000 tons of cement each month. The workers have hired a lawyer to pursue their demands for better conditions, pay and...

The first clear pictures of Iran’s nuclear site near Isfahan have been published and analyzed following an explosion at or near the site on Nov. 28, and they provide another piece of the puzzle. But what happened there remains a mystery. -excerpt- ISIS analysts who looked at the images from Isfahan said there had been a dramatic change in the landscape around a tunnel leading down to a storage facility on the periphery of the uranium conversion site. Several structures above that storage facility, which had been there for 15 years and stood intact as recently as August, are gone....

The Times reported on Wednesday that the mysterious explosion that rocked the city of Isfahan two days ago struck the uranium conversion facility located just outside Iran's third-largest city. According to the British newspaper, satellite images clearly show billowing smoke and destruction, despite Iran's claim that no such blast had taken place. The Times quoted Israeli intelligence officials as saying there was "no doubt" that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was "no accident."

AN IRANIAN nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second such blast in a month, prompting speculation that Tehran's military and atomic sites are under attack. Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran.

Seems an explosion rocked Iranian city Isfahan that houses that nation’s uranium conversion facility on Monday. Hmm. Big hmm. Capitalized, italicized and boldfaced HMM. From the New York Daily News: “The government of Isfahan denied reports that the explosion was linked to the nuclear site, saying it was part of a military drill north of the city.” That excuse is so weak that I think Baghdad Bob either moved to Iran or has a cousin Tehran Terry. From the New York Daily News: “One of the first reports of the blast came from Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, according to...

'Huge explosion' heard in Iranian city Isfahan, Fars news agency reports - @BBCWorld eom

Predicting the end of a regime, especially one led by ruthless and wily survivors, always poses great risks to the prophet of doom. But the Iranian regime meets almost all of my indicators for the end of a government. First, there are persistent reports that some of the security forces are refusing to use lethal force against their compatriots. On top of that, several news accounts have said that members of the security forces have been forced to surrender to crowds. One particularly noteworthy example had security forces “cowering” as angry crowds confronted them in the capital. Then there are...