Loud explosions rocked Tehran on Monday, June 23, as Israel said it struck "regime targets" in the city, escalating tensions a day after US air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran, in turn, fired missile barrages at Israel as both sides intensified attacks on the war's 11th day.
An Iranian news agency said Israel also struck Fordo – a key nuclear enrichment facility buried deep in the mountains south of Tehran. The previous day, the United States hit the site with "bunker buster" bombs in support of its ally Israel.
"The aggressor attacked the Fordo nuclear site again," the Tasnim agency reported, quoting a provincial official. President Donald Trump boasted Sunday's 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.
The Israeli military said it had struck missile sites in western Iran, "six Iranian regime airports" across the country, and unspecified "military targets" in the capital. Defense Minister Israel 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," adding to speculation that Israel may seek to topple Iran's clerical leadership.
Iranian media said Israel's strikes hit a power supply system in Tehran, triggering 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.
In Israel, aerial assaults raged on, with sirens sounding across the country and Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists reporting blasts were heard over Jerusalem.