An Israeli attack on Iran damaged a Russian-made S-300 air defense system, according to a new report, marking a possible embarrassing performance for the Moscow-designed system provided to a crucial Kremlin ally.
Friday’s attack on Iran damaged or destroyed an S-300 radar designed to track targets, a “crucial” part of the air defense system, The New York Times reported, citing Western and Iranian officials and satellite imagery analysis.
Israel launched an attack on Iran early on Friday, with explosions reported over the central Iranian city of Isfahan, south of Tehran. Air defenses fired at a “suspicious object” near the city at around 4 a.m. local time, Iranian state media reported. A spokesperson for Iran’s space agency, Hossein Dalirian, said Iran intercepted three quadcopter drones. Several reports from anonymous Western and Iranian officials have suggested Israeli warplanes fired at least one missile at Iran.
Isfahan is home to a major military base and a large nuclear facility. The Israeli strike damaged the air defense system positioned near Natanz, north of Isfahan, the Times reported. The Natanz uranium enrichment facility is one of Iran’s most well-known sites.
Newsweek has reached out to the Iranian Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
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Russia, increasingly isolated from the international community following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has tightened ties with its allies, not least Iran. Moscow has extensively used Iranian-designed explosive drones in its war effort, and in mid-February, Reuters reported that Tehran was supplying Moscow with hundreds of powerful ballistic missiles.
Iran purchased S-300 systems from Russia after inking a deal worth $800 million, Russian state media reported. Moscow completed the delivery of the S-300s to Iran in late 2016, according to Russia’s state-run news agency, Tass.
Since 2007, Tehran has looked to acquire the systems to deter Israeli strikes, among others, on its territory, according to the Washington D.C.-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Friday’s strike came after Iran carried out its first direct attack from its territory into Israel earlier this month, firing hundreds of missiles and drones. Israel reported minor damage, and U.S. forces helped intercept the incoming attacks.
Tehran said at the time that the assault was in retaliation for a strike it blamed on Israel against the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at the start of this month. Israel did not claim nor deny responsibility.
The attack, over which Israel vowed to respond, sparked fears of spiraling violence in the Middle East, compounding with months of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian political and military organization, Hamas.
After Friday’s attacks, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, appeared to downplay the possibility of future strikes.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.