Israel reportedly behind rare strikes on civilian infrastructure in Iran

Israel was behind a pair of attacks on major gas pipelines inside Iran this week, which disrupted the flow of gas to millions of people, The New York Times reports, citing two Western officials and a military strategist affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

If confirmed, the strike would amount to an escalation by Israel, which has to take largely targeted military and nuclear sites, as opposed to civilian ones.

“The enemy’s plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country,” Iran’s oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media in comments on the “sabotage and terrorist attacks.

He avoids publicly blaming Israel for the blasts, which he says were aimed at damaging Iran’s energy infrastructure and stirring public upheaval.

One Western official tells NYT that the strike was largely symbolic, causing minimal harm and being easy to repair.

The two Western officials say Israel was also behind another blast yesterday inside a chemical factory on the outskirts of Tehran.

The US says Iran wasn’t directly behind Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught against Israel but that it continues to fund, arm and train proxies who have been targeting the Jewish state.