TEHRAN: Israel hit Revolutionary Guard sites and Evin prison in Tehran on the 11th day of the war on Monday (Jun 23), in what it said were its most powerful strikes yet on the Iranian capital.
Iran, in turn, fired missile barrages at Israel and vowed retaliation against the United States after it struck the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites a day earlier.
Loud explosions rocked the Iranian capital, where Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military hit “regime targets” with “unprecedented force”, adding to speculation that Israel may seek to topple Iran’s clerical leadership.
The targets included Evin prison, which Katz said “holds political prisoners and regime opponents”, as well as command centres of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Israeli military said in a statement 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 on Monday “in order to obstruct access routes” to the site, which Israel’s ally, the US hit the previous day with “bunker buster” bombs.
