Iran Accuses Kurdish Opposition of Isfahan Attack

Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
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Iran Accuses Kurdish Opposition of Isfahan Attack

Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
Eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military industry factory in Isfahan, Iran (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

The Iranian Supreme National Security Council accused Kurdish opposition factions based in Iraq of being "involved" in a drone attack that targeted a military facility in Isfahan.

Nournews, a news agency affiliated with the Council, reported that parts of the drones that were used to carry out the hostile action against the defense workshop in Isfahan and explosive materials all entered Iran with the participation and guidance of the Kurdish opposition groups stationed in the Kurdistan region of Iraq on the orders of a foreign security apparatus.

The Iranian authorities reported a "failed" drone attack last Saturday targeting a "military complex" of the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan, which includes the "Natanz" nuclear facility.

The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post quoted intelligence sources saying the attack "was a phenomenal success."

The Iranian Ministry of Defense said that an anti-aircraft system destroyed a drone while two others exploded, which confirmed that the attack did not cause any injuries but only caused minor damage to the building.

AFP cited Nournews as saying that Kurdish groups brought the drone parts and explosives into Iran from "one of the hardly accessible routes in the northwest" upon "the order of a foreign security service."

The Iranian news agency indicated that Baghdad was repeatedly reminded of the necessity of confrontation with these Kurdish groups.

The agency did not name the foreign security service behind the attack but reported that the parts were delivered to "service's liaison in a border city."

It said that the parts and materials had been assembled and used for sabotage in an advanced workshop by trained forces.

On Monday, Iran summoned the Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires, Sergei Bordeliak, following a recent statement by the senior presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak.

Podolyak took to Twitter to mock the recent attack, saying, "Ukraine did warn you" against the consequences of supplying the drones to Russia.

Moscow announced its willingness to participate in the authorities' investigation of the Isfahan attack.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report an Israeli role in the attack, quoting several unnamed sources, and a US official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters on Sunday that Israel appeared to be involved in the attack.

In turn, the New York Times quoted senior intelligence officials familiar with the dialogue between Israel and the US as saying that the attack was the work of Mossad.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region hosts camps and rear bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which Iran has accused of serving Western or Israeli interests in the past.

In July, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence said it had stopped a sabotage network affiliated with Mossad and arrested a Kurdish opposition Komala party group planning to attack a sensitive center in Isfahan.

On May 11, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that its forces arrested a "terrorist cell" in the Kurdish regions of Iran, consisting of five people. Later that month, it announced that it contained a network operating under the direction of Israeli intelligence.

The statement came hours after the assassination of the Quds Force commander, Sayad Khodaei, who was described by the Israeli media as the commander of Unit 840, a relatively secret unit that builds terrorist infrastructure and plans to launch attacks against Western targets.

Last April, Israel revealed operations carried out by the Mossad and Shin Bet deep in Iranian territory.

Iran announced in December that it had executed four men for cooperating with Israeli intelligence, carrying out kidnappings, and forcing false confessions.

In November, Iran launched cross-border missile and drone strikes against several of the groups in Iraq, accusing them of stoking the nationwide protests triggered by the death in custody in September of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

The IRGC sent troops and reinforcements to the borders of the Kurdistan region and threatened a ground operation against the headquarters of the Kurdish parties.

Iran bombed a villa near Erbil airport in March with 12 ballistic missiles, saying it was an Israeli conspiracy center.

The Kurdistan Region authorities denied the claims, and several reports linked the attack to Iran's annoyance with the region's aspirations to export gas to Europe.

Israel, which Iran does not recognize, threatened military action against Tehran if talks between it and world powers to curb nuclear activities fail.



Russia’s Putin Apologizes to Azerbaijan over ‘Tragic’ Airliner Crash

 In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting via videoconference in Moscow on December 28, 2024. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting via videoconference in Moscow on December 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Russia’s Putin Apologizes to Azerbaijan over ‘Tragic’ Airliner Crash

 In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting via videoconference in Moscow on December 28, 2024. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting via videoconference in Moscow on December 28, 2024. (AFP)

President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan's leader for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed after Russian air defenses were fired against Ukrainian drones.

The extremely rare publicized apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster, although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting that a criminal case had been opened.

Flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crash-landed on Wednesday near Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people were killed.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had mistakenly shot the airliner down. Passengers said they heard a loud bang outside the plane.

Putin called President Ilham Aliyev and "apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured," the Kremlin said.

"At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks."

The Kremlin said "civilian and military specialists" were being questioned.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also said he had called Aliyev to offer condolences, and in his statement on the X platform demanded that Russia provide "clear explanations".

OBJECTS SMASHED THROUGH AIRPLANE'S FUSELAGE

Azerbaijan for its part said Aliyev had noted to Putin that the plane had been "subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau".

Until Saturday, Russia's last working day before a long New Year holiday, the Kremlin had said it was improper to comment on the incident before official investigations were concluded.

The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, where the incident occurred, and then travelled, badly damaged, another 280 miles (450 km) across the Caspian Sea.

Footage shot by passengers before the plane crashed showed oxygen masks down and people wearing life jackets. Later videos showed bloodied and bruised passengers climbing out of the wreckage. There were 29 survivors.

Baku cited injuries from objects that had penetrated the aircraft’s fuselage from outside and testimonies from survivors as evidence of "external physical and technical interference".

The crash underscored the risks to civil aviation even when aircraft are flying hundreds of miles from a war zone, especially when Ukraine has deployed drones en masse to try to hit back at Russia behind the front lines .

Russia uses electronic jamming to confuse the geolocation and communication systems of Ukrainian drones, which it also targets with air defense systems.

In 2020, Iranian Revolutionary Guards mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 on board.

And in 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew, by what Dutch investigators said was a Russian BUK missile system. Russia denied involvement.