By: David Griscom
An Israeli drone was shot down while trying to enter airspace above the Iranian enrichment site in Natanz, according to claims by the Iranian military. Iran has not released any information that could lead to confirmation yet, and Israel has refused to comment on military operations to the global media, as of the writing of this article.
Israel objects to the enrichment of uranium in Iran, which it claims is intended for use in nuclear warheads. Iran objects to this, claiming that it uses and intends to use the enriched uranium for energy.
The enrichment plant has been one that has symbolized the nuclear power debate for Iran. Following the agreements between Iran and the UN, and Natanz has been inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is staying in Iran longer then originally agreed upon to continue its inspections of enrichment sites.
The language coming from Tehran and Jerusalem could rarely be called calm when describing the other, and the recent Gaza operations have increased tensions in an already contentious relationship. Recently Israel claimed that Iran had launched a major cyber attack against Israel during the Gaza offensive, according the Jerusalem Post. The threat of cyber warfare being something that could potentially be catastrophic for a modern state as computer networks provide the means to many of the state’s basic civilian and military functions.
Most recently and notably were the revealing of new drones and short range missiles today, according to the Associated Press. On top of this, earlier this week Iranian Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed that any actions on Israel’ military threats against Iran would result in a ‘deadly nightmare’ for them, according to the Tehran times.
Iran has been highly critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza where Israel has killed an estimated 2,100 Palestinians.