Iran executes Mossad "terrorist" for Isfahan arms facility drone attack

Iran’s judiciary has executed a “terrorist” over a drone attack that targeted a defence ministry site in central Iran last year, state media reported on March 3.

The person “planned to explode the workshop complex of the Ministry of Defence in Isfahan under the guidance of the intelligence officer of Mossad,” Israel’s spy agency, The Times of Israel reports, citing Iran's state TV.

The date of the execution and the identity of the accused person were not immediately clear.

The site hit in the January 2023 strike was reportedly a weapons production facility for Iran’s kamikaze Shahed-136 drones.

Isfahan is also a known hub for Tehran’s missile industry and is where the Shahab medium-range missile — which has a range capable of hitting Israel — is assembled.

Iran also has several known nuclear research sites in the Isfahan region, including a uranium conversion plant. The country’s sanction-hit nuclear program has been the target of sabotage, assassinations of scientists and cyber-attacks.

Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its soil.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said in February 2023 that it had arrested the “main actors” involved in the drone attack on the defence ministry site in Isfahan.

The previous month, an anti-aircraft system destroyed a drone, and two others exploded during an attack on a defence ministry facility in the province, officials said at the time.

According to the defence ministry, the nighttime attack left no casualties and only caused minor damage.

Authorities did not elaborate on activities at the site, but IRNA said the strike had targeted “an ammunition manufacturing plant.”

Iran and Israel are longtime foes and are currently locked in a row over Iran’s nuclear program. Israel accuses Iran of backing terrorist attacks against it, while Iran says Israel has carried out a number of killings of Iranian officials and scientists. Israel neither confirms nor denies such actions.

In August last year, Iran claimed to have foiled a “very complex” Mossad-initiated project to “sabotage” its ballistic missile industry.

In January, Iran hanged four members of its Kurdish minority on charges of spying for Israel. They were convicted of collaborating with Israel on a plan to sabotage an Iranian defence site in Isfahan.