Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as explosions heard near Isfahan
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired air protection batteries early Friday morning as explosions might be heard close to a significant air base close to Isfahan, elevating fears of a attainable Israeli strike following Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the nation.
It remained unclear if the nation was below assault, as no Iranian official immediately acknowledged the chance and Israel’s army didn’t reply to a request for remark. Nevertheless, tensions have remained excessive within the days for the reason that Saturday assault on Israel amid its struggle on Hamas within the Gaza Strip and its personal strikes concentrating on Iran in Syria.
One Iranian authorities official and later Iran’s state-run tv broadcaster instructed websites could have been focused by drones.
IRNA stated the defenses fired throughout a number of provinces. It didn’t elaborate on what precipitated the batteries to fireplace, although folks throughout the realm reported listening to the sounds.
Specifically, IRNA stated air defenses fired at a significant air base in Isfahan, which lengthy has been house to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — bought earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim information companies additionally reported the sound of blasts, with out giving a trigger. State tv acknowledged “loud noise” within the space.
Isfahan is also house to websites related to Iran’s nuclear program, together with its underground Natanz enrichment web site, which has been repeatedly focused by suspected Israeli sabotage assaults. Nevertheless, state tv described all websites within the space as “totally protected.”
Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai started diverting round western Iran about 4:30 a.m. native time. They provided no rationalization, although native warnings to aviators instructed the airspace could have been closed.
Iran later introduced it grounded industrial flights in Tehran and throughout areas of its western and central areas. Loudspeakers knowledgeable prospects of the incident at Imam Khomeini Worldwide Airport in Tehran, on-line movies purported to point out.
Iranian state tv started a scrolling, on-screen alert acknowledging a “loud noise” close to Isfahan, with out instantly elaborating.
Hossein Dalirian, a spokesman for Iran’s civilian area program, stated on the X social media platform that a number of small “quadcopter” drones had been shot down. A state tv reporter in Isfahan stated the identical in a reside report, saying “a number of small drones had been flying within the sky over Isfahan, which had been fired at.”
In the meantime in Iraq, the place various Iranian-backed militias are based mostly, residents of Baghdad reported listening to sounds of explosions, however the supply of the noise was not instantly clear.
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Related Press author Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.