Israel yesterday hit Revolutionary Guard sites and the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, calling them its most powerful strikes yet on the Iranian capital on the 11th day of the war.
Iran, in turn, fired missile barrages at Israel and vowed retaliation against the US after it struck the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites a day earlier.
Loud explosions rocked the Iranian capital, where Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said the military hit “regime targets” with “unprecedented force,” adding to speculation that Israel could seek to topple Iran’s clerical leadership.
Photo: AP
The targets included Evin prison, which Katz said “holds political prisoners and regime opponents,” as well as command centers of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Israeli military in a statement said that the targets belong to Iranian forces “responsible ... for defending the homeland security, suppressing threats and maintaining the regime’s stability.”
Iranian media and the Israeli military said Israel also struck Fordo, a key nuclear enrichment facility buried deep in the mountains south of Tehran.
The military said it had struck Fordo yesterday “in order to obstruct access routes” to the site, which Israel’s ally the US hit the previous day with “bunker buster” bombs.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that the US strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but other officials said it was too soon to assess the impact on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.
Sirens sounded across Israel yesterday and journalists reported blasts were heard over Jerusalem.
Katz said the Israeli military was “carrying out strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government oppression in the heart of Tehran.”
Iranian media said Israel’s strikes hit a power supply system in Tehran, triggering temporary outages.
In Israel, the national electricity company reported “damage near a strategic infrastructure facility” in the south that disrupted power supply, without naming the location or specifying the cause.
Some details of the damage in Israel are barred from publication due to military censorship rules.
A photographer in Tel Aviv saw people rush to a bomb shelter after sirens sounded.
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.
Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures.
China urged both Iran and Israel to prevent the conflict from spilling over, warning of potential economic fallout.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to help deter Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said that closing the strategic strait would be “extremely dangerous.”
With Iran threatening US bases in the region, the US Department of State issued a worldwide alert cautioning Americans abroad.
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