“Ukraine Warned You:” Iran Summons Ukrainian Diplomat Over Drone Strike Tweet

Iranian authorities have summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Tehran after a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to link a recent drone attack in Iran to the war in Ukraine.

The envoy was called on January 30 to provide explanations for Mykhailo Podolyak’s “strange and biased” tweet a day earlier, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

“Explosive night in Iran - drone and missile production, oil refineries,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy, said in his tweet, adding, “Ukraine did warn you.”

War logic is inexorable & murderous. It bills the authors & accomplices strictly.
Panic in RF - endless mobilization, missile defense in Moscow, trenches 1000 km away, bomb shelters preparation.
Explosive night in Iran - drone & missile production, oil refineries.
🇺🇦 did warn you

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) January 29, 2023

Kyiv and its Western backers accuse Iran of supplying Russia with attack drones that are being used in the war in Ukraine. Tehran has acknowledged supplying drones to Moscow but said this was before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Podolyak’s tweet came shortly after three bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defense factory in the central city of Isfahan late on January 28, causing minor damage at the plant, Iran's Defense Ministry said.

The ministry described the site targeted by the drones as a “workshop,” without providing further details. Iran's official IRNA news agency said the drones had targeted "an ammunition manufacturing plant."

The ministry did not say who it suspected was behind the attack.

The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed "US officials and people familiar with the operation" as saying it was carried out by Israel. Citing "senior [US] intelligence officials," The New York Times reported that the attack was the work of Israel's intelligence service, Mossad.

Iran has previously been a target of suspected Israeli strikes amid a shadow war with its arch foe.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the "cowardly" drone attack was an attempt to destabilize the country.

Russia also condemned the drone strike and warned against what it called "provocative" actions that could trigger an escalation in an already tense situation.

The attack came amid heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear program. The country has also been swept by anti-government protests over the past four months.

On the night of the drone attack, several other incidents were reported in other Iranian regions, including a fire at a major industrial complex. Iranian authorities have not officially linked the incidents.