This original plan would have involved striking many more military targets in Iran, including targets near the capital of Tehran.
According to the report, which cited three anonymous Israeli officials, the decision not to respond with significantly greater force was made following a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.
The officials said that Israel's retaliation on Thursday night consisted of the firing of several missiles from fighter jets hundreds of miles west of Iran and the launching of quadcopter attack drones to confuse Iranian air defense systems.
One missile destroyed an anti-aircraft battery. A second missile fired at the same target was remotely destroyed by the IAF in midair once it was determined that the first missile had already struck the target.
Damage was caused to the Isfahan base, near the site of one of Iran's nuclear facilities.
One of the reported reasons for the limited strike was the desire to avoid an escalation that could have led to a wider regional war.
On the night of April 13, Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel, launching over 300 projectiles, including about 170 attack drones, 30 cruise missiles, and over 100 ballistic missiles. Israel's air defenses and air force, together with assistance from the US, UK, France, Jordan, and Egypt, shot down nearly all of the drones and missiles, with only a small number of ballistic missiles reaching their target.
An air force base in southern Israel suffered minor damage in the barrage, and the only casualty was a seven-year-old Bedouin girl who was seriously wounded in the Iranian attack.
