Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defence factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight, authorities have said, causing some damage at the plant amid heightened regional and international tensions engulfing the Islamic Republic.
"One of (the drones) was hit by the ... air defence and the other two were caught in defence traps and blew up," the defence ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency IRNA.
"Fortunately, this unsuccessful attack did not cause any loss of life and caused minor damage to the workshop's roof."
Iranian news agencies earlier reported a loud blast and carried a video showing a flash of light at the plant, said to be an ammunitions factory, and footage of emergency vehicles and fire trucks outside the plant.
The Iranian Defense Ministry offered no information on who it suspected carried out the attack, which came as a refinery fire separately broke out in the country's north-west and a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck nearby, killing two people.
However, Tehran has been targeted in suspected Israeli drone strikes amid a shadow war with its Mideast rival as its nuclear deal with world powers collapsed.
Meanwhile, tensions also remain high with neighbouring Azerbaijan after a gunman attacked that country's embassy in Tehran, killing its security chief and wounding two others.
In July, Iran said it had arrested a sabotage team made up of Kurdish militants working for Israel who planned to blow up a "sensitive" defence industry centre in Isfahan.
The announcement came amid heightening tensions with arch-enemy Israel over Tehran's nuclear programme. Israel says Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this.
"(The attack) has not affected our installations and mission...and such blind measures will not have an impact on the continuation of the country's progress," the defence ministry statement said.
Shadow wars
Iran and Israel have long been engaged in a shadow war that has included covert attacks on Iranian military and nuclear facilities.
Last year, Iran said an engineer was killed and another employee was wounded in an unexplained incident at the Parchin military and weapons development base east of the capital, Tehran.
The ministry called it an accident, without providing further details.
Parchin is home to a military base where the International Atomic Energy Agency has said it suspected Iran conducted tests of explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons.
In July 2020 and again in April 2021, Iran blamed Israel for attacks on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyber attack that caused a blackout at the nuclear facility.
In 2020, Iran blamed Israel for a sophisticated attack that killed its top nuclear scientist.
Israeli officials rarely acknowledge operations carried out by the country's secret military units or its Mossad intelligence agency.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.
US intelligence agencies, Western nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said Iran ran an organised nuclear weapons program until 2003.
The United Nations' top nuclear official, Rafael Mariano Grossi, recently warned that Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build "several" nuclear weapons if it chooses.
Efforts to revive a 2015 agreement with world powers that placed limits on Iran's nuclear activities ground to a halt last year.
Both the US and Israel have vowed to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, and neither has ruled out military action.
ABC/wires
