TEHRAN – Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has refrained from confirming a reported drone attack against a military facility in Isfahan belonging to the Iranian Defense Ministry.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session on Wednesday, Vahidi said he cannot confirm reports on the attack. “Reports on this issue needs to be examined,” Vahidi said, according to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA. 

Responding to a question on whether he could confirm the reported attack, the interior foreign minister said, “No, I do not confirm reports that a micro air vehicle entered [the facility].”

Tasnim reported on Wednesday that Iran foiled an attack by a micro air vehicle (MAV) on a complex of the Defense Ministry in the central province of Isfahan on Tuesday night, 

The micro air vehicle was approaching the Amir-al-Mo’menin complex of the Defense Ministry in Isfahan on Tuesday night, according to Tasnim.

The reports of the attack were published many other news outlets, including IRNA.  

The attack was repelled after the Iranian defense systems took action, according to the Iranian media.

Since the attack ended in failure, no damage has been done to the complex, the Iranian media said.

This is the second reported attack against an Isfahan military facility since January. On January 28, the Iranian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the air defense forces had repelled a drone strike on a military workshop in the central city of Isfahan.

The ministry said one of its workshop complexes had come under attack from a number of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), but the complex’s air defenses successfully repelled the attack.

“One of the MAVs was downed by the complex’s air defense fire, while the other two were caught in its defensive traps and exploded,” the statement added, according to Tasnim.

In February, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps jointly announced the busting of elements implicated in the effort to commit an act of sabotage in Isfahan.

The two intelligence agencies announced in the joint statement that the detainees are the main elements of a failed attempt to commit an act of sabotage at an industrial facility belonging to the Ministry of Defense.

The statement also said that Israel is implicated in the act of sabotage.

Also in February, Iranian Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib said that members of sabotage teams were identified and detained during the recent unrest. He added that a team was identified in Isfahan and their operation was thwarted, noting that another team in Karaj was also apprehended.