Groups based in N.Iraq, foreign spy agency behind Iran military complex attack: Report

TEHRAN

A news agency affiliated with Iran's top security body says groups based in northern Iraq were behind recent the attack on a military complex in central Isfahan province.

In a report on Wednesday, citing sources, the Supreme National Security Council-affiliated Nour News said the "dissident groups" collaborated with a foreign intelligence agency to carry out the attack on the military complex late on Saturday.

It said drones and explosives used in the attack were smuggled into Iran from northern Iraq on orders "by a foreign intelligence agency."

The report, however, did not name the foreign intelligence agency allegedly involved in the attack.

Iran's Defense Ministry in a statement on Sunday said one of its workshop complexes came under attack from several micro drones at around 11:30 pm local time (0200 GMT) on Saturday, which it said was thwarted.

One of the drones, the statement noted, was intercepted by the air defense system and the other two were caught in defense traps and subsequently exploded.

The attack did not cause any loss of life, but resulted in minor damage to the work shop's roof, the ministry said.

Iran has not blamed any group or country for the attack so far, but a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday said Israel was behind it.

Citing unnamed American officials, the newspaper said the attack targeted the Material and Energy Laboratory of Isfahan with small drones.

Nour News said the groups received parts of micro-birds and explosives and smuggled them through a border in northwestern Iran and delivered them to agents in a border city.

"The continuation of the terrorist activities of these groups against Iran shows that the Iraqi government has not yet been able to fulfill its legal responsibilities in this regard," the report said.

Iranian authorities have in recent months, since the countrywide protests erupted in September, blamed the authorities in northern Iraq for allowing anti-Iran groups to smuggle arms into the country.

The strike on the military complex in Isfahan, which has drawn angry reactions from Iranian officials, is the latest in a series of attacks targeting military facilities and nuclear plants in Iran in recent years.

One of the key targets has been the Natanz nuclear plant, 120 km north of Isfahan city, with Iran mostly blaming its arch-foe Israel.