Iran says Israel 'responsible' for drone attack

Iran's envoy to the United Nations said arch-enemy Israel was "responsible" for a drone attack on a defence ministry site in central Isfahan province, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

"Preliminary investigations show the Zionist regime (Israel) is responsible for the terrorist attack on the defence ministry workshop complex," ISNA news agency quoted Amir Saeid Iravani as saying in a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Iravani did not elaborate on the investigations, but referred to recent occasions on which Israeli officials had threatened to attack Iranian infrastructure.

He called on the UN Security Council to "condemn the belligerent statements of the Zionist authorities and ask this regime to comply with international laws and end its dangerous programmes and destructive activities in the region".

Iranian authorities reported an "unsuccessful" drone attack late Saturday that targeted a defence ministry "workshop complex" in central Isfahan province.

An anti-aircraft system destroyed one drone and two others exploded, the defence ministry said, adding that there were no casualties and only minor damage to the site.

Iran has been engaged in a shadow war with Israel for years. It has accused it of being behind a series of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear program, carried out alongside the United States.

"Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right to defend its national security and resolutely respond to any threat or wrongdoing of the Zionist regime wherever and whenever it deems necessary," Iravani said.

On Wednesday, Iran's Nour News Agency, considered close to the Supreme National Security Council, accused Iraq-based Kurdish groups of being involved in the attack.

It charged that Kurdish groups brought the drone parts and explosive materials into Iran on "the order of a foreign security service".