The unmanned Iranian aircraft shot down in February after breaching Israeli airspace was armed with explosives and on a mission to attack the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday.
"An operational and intelligence-based analysis of the trajectory of the Iranian drone that breached Israeli airspace on Feb. 10 concluded it was armed with explosives and tasked with attacking Israeli territory," the military said in a statement.
"The drone's interception by Israeli combat helicopters prevented the attack Iran had hoped to carry out. The Iranian aircraft was under Israeli defense systems' surveillance until it was shot down and at no time during its flight in Israeli skies did it pose a threat," the military said.
At the time, Iran rejected the report that one of its drones had been intercepted as "ridiculous."
Tensions had heightened between Israel and Iran following last week's airstrike on the T4 air base in Homs, Syria, which is believed to be used by Iran. Damascus and its allies Tehran and Moscow, have blamed Israel for the attack.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called the airstrike that killed seven Iranians a "historic mistake" and "a new phase that puts Israel in a state of direct confrontation" with Iran.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the strike on Syria's T4 air base.
Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, its support of terrorist groups in the region and frequent calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel has issued several stern warnings of late about the increased Iranian involvement along its border in Syria and Lebanon. It fears Iran could use Syrian territory to stage attacks or form a land corridor from Iran to Lebanon that could allow it to transfer weapons more easily to Hezbollah.
