Video and photographs circulating on social media on the morning of Jan. 29 showed a fire at one of the suspected drone targets. In one video, an explosion appears to occur on the roof of a building.
Read also: US, Israel discussing ways to prevent Iran from supplying drones to Russia
Open Source Intelligence Monitor OSINTdefender reported on Twitter that five confirmed locations of explosions had been identified.
They were:
an ammunition production facility in the central city of Isfahan;
an oil refinery in Azarshahr, East Azerbaijan Province;
in the city of Karaj, a satellite city of Tehran;
in the city of Khoy, West Azerbaijan Province;
Hamadan Airbase in the northwest of the country.
Iranian media speculate that the blasts were the result of attacks by the United States or Israel, but Tehran has offered no official information on who it suspects behind the attacks.
Iran is a military ally of Russia, having supplied the Kremlin regime with Shahed flying bombs which Russia has used to attack Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure. Tehran denies supplying the drones, but there is overwhelming evidence that these denials are false.
There are also reports that Russia has struck a deal with Iran for Tehran to supply short-range ballistic missiles in exchange for military cooperation, but there is no indication that Russia has taken delivery of any such missiles yet.
Read also: There is not doubt about Iranian involvement in drone supply to Russia, says PGO
Russia has been waging a campaign of mass missile strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure since early October, attempting to deny Ukrainians supplies of heat, power and water in the depth of winter.
While the campaign initially caused severe damage to Ukraine's electrical supply system, Ukraine's allies have stepped up to provide modern air defense systems and electrical equipment, including generators and transformers, which have allowed Ukraine to keep power supplies going - albeit with frequent power outages nationwide.
There is some evidence that Russia's mass missile campaign is now running out of steam, with Ukrainian air defenses regularly shooting down 80-90% of incoming missiles, and Russia firing fewer missiles in each mass attack.
Read also: Israel supports Ukraine 'behind the scenes', says Israeli ambassador to Germany
Russia is also using older, less accurate missiles in its attacks, including S-300 air defense missiles repurposed to ground-attack mode, and highly inaccurate Kh-22 anti-ship missiles.
Read also: Russia may have hundreds more Kh-22 missiles like the one used in Dnipro, Ukrainian Air Force says
Russian attacks by Kh-22 missiles have caused atrocities with mass civilian casualties in Ukraine on at least two occasions - on June 27 in Kremenchuk, when a Kh-22 struck a shopping mall, killing at least 20 people and injuring 60 others, and on Jan. 14, when a Kh-22 struck an apartment building, killing 40 and injuring 76.
