Iranian authorities said that one of the nation's defense facilities in the central city of Isfahan was attacked by drones on Saturday.

A Defense Ministry statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency reported that the "unsuccessful” attack caused only minor damage to the facility's rooftop.

The ministry said one of the drones was destroyed by the site's anti-aircraft defense system, while the other two exploded.

What the Defense Ministry said

"One of (the drones) was hit by the ... air defense and the other two were caught in defense traps and blew up. Fortunately, this unsuccessful attack did not cause any loss of life and caused minor damage to the workshop's roof," the ministry said.

The incident comes amid heightening tensions between Iran and the international community over Tehran's nuclear program. 

Negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, between Iran, the European Union and six major powers, stalled after the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

The pact was aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes. 

"(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. 

A history of incidents

Iran has reported a series of attacks on its facilities over the last few years. Last July, authorities said they had arrested a team of Kurdish militants working for Israel, who allegedly planned on blowing up a "sensitive" defense facility in Isfahan.

On a different occasion, 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 Tehran — a facility suspected of conducting explosive trigger tests used in nuclear weapons, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In 2021, Iranian authorities said they tackled a "sabotage attack” on a civilian nuclear facility in Tehran, without providing further details.

mk/sri (AP, Reuters)