Dِrone attack on an Iranian nuclear facility

A mysterious attack in the Iranian city of Karaj on Tuesday night damaged a factory producing aluminum blades for nuclear centrifuges. Iranian state television claimed Tehran had thwarted a "sabotage attack" on a nuclear facility.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency said the attack on one of its facilities early in the morning had been foiled, with no casualties or structural damage to the site.

The attack on the facility near the city of Karaj, on the outskirts of Tehran, was carried out by a small quadcopter drone, according to Iranian media and an Iranian familiar with the attack.

The drone appeared to have taken off from inside Iran, from a location not far from the site, and hit the structure, the person familiar with the attack said.

If the attack was thwarted, it would be a welcome victory for Iran’s embattled intelligence and security agencies, which have been blamed for failing to stop a series of attacks over the past year, including two acts of sabotage on the Natanz nuclear facility and the assassination of the top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.