Report: Israeli Weapon Damages Iranian Air Defenses Without Detection

By Yoni Weiss

According to a weekend report, an Israeli weapon utilized in Friday’s strike against Iran inflicted damage on a crucial defense system responsible for identifying and neutralizing aerial threats near Natanz, all without detection. The New York Times, citing sources in the report including two Western and two Iranian officials, details how the weapon targeted an S-300 anti-aircraft system situated at a military facility in Isfahan province, near the central city of Natanz, a hub for Iran’s nuclear program.

Satellite imagery analyzed by the Times corroborates the officials’ accounts, revealing visible harm to the radar component of an S-300 system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan. However, the specific type of weapon employed in the strike remains unclear.

The Times notes that Israel deployed aerial drones alongside at least one missile launched from a fighter jet. Notably, the missile was fired from a fighter jet operating far from both Israeli and Iranian airspace, equipped with technology enabling it to evade detection by Iran’s radar defenses.

Officials suggest that this strategic approach was intended to convey a message to Iran, demonstrating Israel’s capability to penetrate and disable the Islamic Republic’s defense apparatus covertly. Moreover, Israel accomplished this with notably less firepower than Iran utilized in its recent attack, according to two Western officials.

The decision to refrain from a full-scale assault against Iran was deliberate, with this tactic serving as a means to halt the cycle of hostilities. The coordinated strike aimed to dissuade Iran from launching direct attacks on Israel in the future, the officials explained.