It seems that neither Israel nor Iran is good at stubble, and the "you come and go" turn-based contest between the two sides has become more and more intense. According to CCTV, U.S. officials confirmed that an Israeli missile hit a target in Iran. According to Israeli media reports, explosions were heard in Iran's Isfahan region, southern Syria's Suweida province, Iraq's Baghdad region and Babylon province. It appears that Tel Aviv's retaliation is no less large-scale than the Iranian missile strike last weekend.
Isfahan was attacked
An interesting question then arises: How did Israel carry out its missile strikes on Isfahan, an important city in central Iran? We know that the Isfahan region is home to Iran's primary uranium processing plant, as well as a number of important military bases and underground command posts, and has a good strategic position. One of the reasons why Iran has so many key facilities in the region is that Isfahan is located in the heart of Iranian territory, with a maximum distance of about 363 kilometers from the country's border with Iraq and 360 kilometers from the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Israeli Air Force warplanes
Considering that the closest straight-line distance between Israel and Iran's southwestern border is more than 800 kilometers, Isfahan is equivalent to a distance of more than 1,100 kilometers from Israel, which is close to the limit of the combat radius of the American-made F-16 fighter jets equipped by the Israeli army. Although both the F-15 and F-35I have a combat radius of more than 1200 km, such a long distance means that they cannot return directly after completing the strike mission and must receive at least 1 air refueling.
Modern tankers do not have stealth technology
So, could it be that Israeli air tankers have gone all the way into the airspace of Syria or Iraq and refueled the air raid fleets on the way? On the one hand, modern tankers basically do not have a stealth appearance, and even if the air defense forces of Syria and Iraq are "invisible", tankers with large size and large target reflection area cannot escape the eyes of ground-based early warning radars. Once these two countries discover the presence of Israeli tankers in their airspace, it is believed that they will be able to immediately guess the relevant intentions of the Israeli military and inform Iran of the information.
U.S. military airfield on the territory of Iraq
Therefore, what choice does the Israeli military have? One possible way is to seek help from the US military. Considering that the United States has a number of airfields and military bases in Iraq, it cannot be ruled out that the Israeli air attack fleet received refueling from US air tankers in Iraq, or that the US military directly opened its bases to Israeli fighters and allowed the Israeli air attack fleet to land and refuel at US military bases. Of course, in this way, US military bases abroad will also face the possibility of retaliation by Iran, and the Biden administration may also be under great pressure when making relevant approvals.
"Delilah" subsonic cruise missile
As for the types of missiles that the Israeli military may use, the "Fury" air-launched cruise missile that can be launched by the F-15 has a maximum range of more than 300 kilometers, and the "Delilah" subsonic cruise missile also has a range of more than 250 kilometers. As for the F-35 stealth fighter, the probability may not be very large, because the F-35 does not yet have the ability to launch these Israeli domestic ammunition.
Israeli fighter jets
In short, more information awaits the official disclosure of Israel. It is conceivable that a new round of Iranian strikes may also be on the way.