Israel hits Fordo roads, regime sites, as region braces for Iran respond

TEHRAN

This grab taken from UGC images posted on social media on June 23, 2025 shows a plume of smoke billowing after Israeli strikes in Tehran. Israel said it struck Iran Revolutionary Guards sites in Tehran and the city's notorious Evin prison on June 23, instensifying its attacks a day after the United States hit the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities .

The Israeli military on June 23 launched air raids on roads leading to Iran’s enriched uranium facility in Fordo, along with other key regime targets in what Israel called the most intense bombing yet of the Iranian capital, with the region bracing for Tehran’s retaliatory attacks after the U.S. strikes.

The attack on Fordo aimed to “"obstruct access routes" to the facility, which was bombed by the United States on June 22, along with another two key facilities, Natanz and Isfahan.

Following the weekend strikes, U.S. President Donald Trump stated the facilities were "totally obliterated.”

Israel’s Defense Ministry also informed that Israel hit Iranian government targets in Tehran.

The Israeli military "is carrying out strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government repression in the heart of Tehran,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X as the Iran-Israel war raged for an 11th day.

These included Evin prison, “which holds political prisoners and regime opponents,” as well as the command centers of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Revolutionary Guards, he added.

The notorious prison is often used to hold foreign nationals and Iranians that are seen by rights groups as political prisoners.

Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been published, in what some Western governments describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions.

“The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” the ministry said.

Israel began its military campaign against Iran on June 13 with strikes on the country's nuclear and missile facilities, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as an "existential" threat for his country.

But the list of targets has widened since then, encompassing state television and the Iranian domestic security forces, raising speculation that Israel is seeking to topple Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 ‘MIGA’

Similarly, Trump hinted at interest in changing Iran's system of government, despite several of his administration officials earlier stressing that U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites did not have that goal.

"It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Hours later he posted: "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran... Obliteration is an accurate term!"

At a Pentagon press briefing earlier in the day, top US 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.

 US bases in Mideast on alert

The concern that Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests in the region following the weekend strikes prompted the U.S. State Department to double the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel.

Washington ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon.

In an alert sent to all Americans worldwide and posted to its website, the State Department warned all U.S. citizens abroad to exercise caution.

At the same time, the department issued warnings to U.S. citizens in Türkiye and Saudi Arabia to take extra security precautions given the uncertainty.

In Türkiye, the department said U.S. personnel “have been cautioned to maintain a low profile and instructed to avoid personal travel to the U.S. Consulate Adana consular district,” which includes the NATO airbase at İncirlik.