Tehran hit by Israeli attacks, vows response to US strikes
TEHRAN
A banner bearing a painting that represents various categories of the Iranian society is deployed against the facade of a building in Tehran, with a message that reads in Farsi: " we are all soldiers of Iran", on June 22, 2025.
Loud explosions rocked Tehran on Monday as Israel said it struck "regime targets" in the city, escalating tensions a day after U.S. air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran, in turn, fired missile barrages at Israel and vowed retaliation against the United States, as both sides intensified attacks on the war's 11th day.
An Iranian news agency said Israel 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 U.S. strikes had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities, but other officials said it was too soon to assess the impact on Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.
Aerial assaults meanwhile raged on, with sirens sounding across Israel and AFP journalists reporting blasts were heard over Jerusalem.
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.
An AFP journalist in Tehran reported hearing loud explosions in the city's north, and the Iranian Red Crescent said an Israeli strike hit near its building in the same area.
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.
These included Evin prison - "which holds political prisoners and regime opponents" - as well as the command centres of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Revolutionary Guards, he added
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.
Some details of the damage in Israel are barred from publication due to military censorship rules.
An AFP photographer in Tel Aviv saw people rush to a bomb shelter after sirens sounded, including beach-goers with in swimsuits and carrying surfing boards.
Footage shared by the Israeli military of what it said were the latest airport strikes showed grainy black-and-white footage of fighter jets and helicopters explode upon impact.
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Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures.
'Regime change'
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to help deter Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for one-fifth of the world's oil supply.
With Iran threatening U.S. bases in the region, the State Department issued a worldwide alert cautioning Americans abroad.
In central Tehran on Sunday, protesters waved flags and chanted slogans against U.S. and Israeli attacks.
In the province of Semnan east of the capital, 46-year-old housewife Samireh said she was "truly shocked" by the strikes.
"Semnan province is very far from the nuclear facilities targeted, but I'm very concerned for the people who live near," she told AFP.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the U.S. strikes revealed Washington was "behind" Israel's campaign against the Islamic republic and vowed a response.
After the Pentagon stressed the goal of American intervention was not to topple the Iranian government, Trump openly toyed with the idea.
"It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???"
Hours later he doubled down on emphasising the success of his strikes.
"Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!" Trump wrote, without sharing the images he was referencing.
At a Pentagon press briefing earlier in the day, top U.S. general Dan Caine said "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said his country's bombardments would "finish" once the stated objectives of destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities have been achieved.
"We are very, very close to completing them," he said.
'Blow up'
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures.
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that craters were visible at the Fordo facility, but it had not been possible to assess the underground damage.
"Armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place," he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, had accused the United States of deciding to "blow up" nuclear diplomacy with its intervention in the war.
While Russia condemned the Israeli and U.S. strikes, it has not offered military help and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran just months ago.
On Sunday, Russia, China and Pakistan circulated a draft resolution with other Security Council members that calls for an "immediate ceasefire" in Iran.
