Israel carries out air strikes on Iranian cities, hitting a site near Quds Day rally
Israeli army claims air strikes hit missile production sites, air defence bases and security headquarters as part of efforts to weaken Iran’s military capabilities.
Huge explosions rocked central Tehran on Friday, according to Iranian state television, which added that strikes had hit an area not far from where a pro-government demonstration was being held.
State TV broadcast images of crowds gathering in Tehran and other major cities to mark Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, organised on the last Friday of Ramadan, in support of the Palestinian cause.
The Israeli military targeted infrastructure linked to Iran’s government in coordinated air strikes across the capital Tehran as well as the cities of Shiraz and Ahvaz over the past 24 hours, the Israeli army said.
The Israeli Air Force carried out several waves of strikes simultaneously in the three cities under the direction of military intelligence, targeting what the army described as infrastructure belonging to the “Iranian terrorist regime,” the military said on US social media platform X.
In Shiraz in south-central Iran, the Israeli army claimed that an aircraft targeted an underground facility used to produce and store ballistic missiles intended for launch towards Israel.
In Tehran, Israeli forces said they targeted sites linked to Iran’s air defence system. Additional sites involved in the production of various weapons, air defence systems, and components for ballistic missiles were also targeted, the army added.
At the same time in Ahvaz in southwestern Iran, Israel claimed their strikes targeted the headquarters of several Iranian government bodies, including command centres of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ground forces and a central command of internal security forces responsible for coordinating with the Revolutionary Guards.