Iranian media says three drones downed after explosions heard in Isfahan

ABC News earlier reported Israel had launched a missile attack on a target in Iran, citing a senior US official.

Iranian state media said the country’s air defences brought down three drones over the central city of Isfahan, hours after US broadcasters, citing senior US officials, reported Israeli missiles had hit an Iranian site.

Iranian state television reported explosions in Isfahan, as air defences were activated and flights across several areas including Tehran and Isfahan were suspended.

Airspace was reopened about four and a half hours after the incident and there were no reports of casualties.

The state broadcaster reported that at “around 1230 AM GMT” three drones were seen in the sky over Isfahan, air defence was activated and they “destroyed these drones in the sky.”

ABC News reported earlier, citing a senior US official, that Israel had launched missiles at a site in Iran. CBS News also reported that an Israeli attack had taken place.

Israel promised to respond after Iran last Saturday launched a barrage of drones and missiles on the country, after a suspected Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate compound in Damascus killed two senior generals.

Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said “several” drones had been “successfully shot down”.

“There are no reports of a missile attack for now,” Dalirian said on social media platform X.

Isfahan is considered a strategically important city and one that is host to several important sites, including military research and development facilities, as well as bases. The nearby city of Natanz is the location of one of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites.

Nuclear facilities in Isfahan were reported to be “completely secure”, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing “reliable sources”.

There were also reports of explosions in Iraq and Syria.

“There were strikes on a Syrian army radar position,” Rayan Maarouf, who runs the Suwayda24 anti-government website that covers news from Sweida province in the south, told the AFP news agency.

The United States and a number of European countries had been calling on Israel not to respond to Iran’s attack last week. There was no immediate comment from the White House or Pentagon.

On Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, warning that spiralling tensions over the war in Gaza and Iran’s attack on Israel could descend into a “full-scale regional conflict.”

“The Middle East is on a precipice. Recent days have seen a perilous escalation — in words and deeds,” Guterres told the Security Council.

“One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable — a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,” he said, calling on all parties to exercise “maximum restraint.”