This Friday, Israel struck Iranian territory in response to a massive Iranian attack a week ago.
Israel destroyed Iran's best air defense system
The New York Times learned that the Israelis targeted a military base in Isfahan province.
Western and Iranian officials told journalists on condition of anonymity that the Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missile complex was destroyed as a result of the strike.
It is not known what kind of weapon hit the Iranian facility. Three Western and two Iranian officials said Israel may have used drones and at least one missile fired from a warplane. Earlier, Iranian officials said that the attack on the military base was carried out by small drones, which were most likely launched from the territory of Iran itself.
Two Western officials said the missile was fired from a military aircraft far from Israeli or Iranian airspace, and that the weapon included technology that allowed it to evade Iran's radar defenses. Two Iranian officials said the military did not detect anything entering the country's airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles or planes.
Columnist of the German publication Bild, Christopher Bull, notes that the Iranian authorities were proud of the S-300 systems purchased from Russia. At military parades, launchers were hung with portraits and quotes of Ayatollah Khamenei.
What is the S-300 system
The S-300 anti-aircraft missile complex is a Soviet development that has been serially produced since the mid-1970s. Depending on the modification, it can shoot down air targets at a distance of 40 to 200 km (but in most versions - up to 75 or up to 150 km). Such complexes were in service with some countries of the "social camp" and were later exported to countries friendly to Russia.
At the time of the collapse of the USSR, Iran did not have these systems in service. In 2007, Tehran ordered 5 S-300 divisions from Moscow, which were eventually delivered in 2015-16 in the most modern modification of the S-300 PMU2 at the time. Iran currently has 32 S-300 launchers, equivalent to 4 divisions.
S-300 systems of various modifications were repeatedly destroyed during the Russian-Ukrainian war - on both sides. In addition, the Armed Forces repeatedly destroyed the more powerful and much more modern S-400 system, which Russia created after the collapse of the USSR.
