Israel's limited attack on Iran was to send a message that it can penetrate Iranian defenses whenever it wants, experts say

• Israel carried out a limited military strike on Iranian soil on Friday morning.
• The attack was seemingly in response to Iran's missile and drone attacks at the weekend.

Israel carried out a military strike on Iranian soil in the early hours of Friday morning, US sources and an Israeli official told multiple international news outlets.

It marks the latest exchange in the ongoing conflict between the two countries, which until recently had largely played out in the shadows.

Following calls for restraint by Israel's allies after Iran sent a barrage of missiles and drones toward Israel last weekend — itself the result of an Israeli strike on Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus — the latest attack was limited in scope and caused little to no damage.

In fact, analysts say it was primarily orchestrated to send a message: Israel can reach deep into Iranian soil, including its nuclear sites.

While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike, an unnamed Israeli official told The Washington Post that it was in retaliation for last Saturday's attack.

The unnamed official told the Post that the attack was not orchestrated to cause damage but rather to demonstrate Israel's capacity to strike deep inside Iran.

Two unnamed Israeli defense officials also told The New York Times that the Israeli military had mounted the attack.

Reports said that explosions were heard close to an Iranian military base near Isfahan, with Iranian state media outlet IRNA reporting that air defense systems had been activated.

Natanz is in Ifsahan, a province in Iran that houses the country's primary nuclear enrichment facility, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that nuclear facilities were undamaged. IRNA reported the same.

Sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israel hoped to highlight the vulnerability of Iranian nuclear sites to potential Israeli attacks, emphasizing that they could be future targets.

The message was that Israel chose not to hit Iran's nuclear sites at this moment, "but we could have done worse right here," sources told The Jerusalem Post.

Jonathan Conricus, a former Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, made a similar point on X: "I think they've gotten the message: Israel can penetrate Iranian defenses and strike wherever it wants."

Richard Goldberg, who previously directed efforts to counter Iranian production of weapons of mass destruction for the White House National Security Council, also said on X that escalation was not the objective.

"Israel demonstrating its capability to reach inside Iran at will," he wrote. "That is the step taken tonight to begin restoring deterrence."

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful not military purposes, but Israel and some Western governments suspect that the efforts go beyond the scope of civilian use.

On Thursday, before the latest attack, Ahmad Haqtalab, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer, told IRNA that it would review its current "doctrine and nuclear policies" if Israel attacked nuclear facilities.