File image.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced late on March 7 that it began a wave of strikes targeting Iran’s infrastructure in the capital, Tehran, in the first such attack since the start of the war on the Islamic Republic last week.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported soon after that Israeli strikes targeted oil storage depots and refining facilities in Tehran.
Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that explosions were heard in Tehran following the strikes, with videos posted online later showing massive fires.
A later report by the Fars news agency revealed that three oil depots in western Tehran were struck by Israeli strikes. According to the report, the depots were struck in the Kuhak and Shahran areas of the capital, as well as in the nearby city of Karaj.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded quickly by announcing a missile attack on a refinery in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.
The Israeli Defense Forces said in a brief statement that a single missile launched from Iran was likely intercepted. Footage posted online indicates that the missile was likely armed with a cluster warhead. There are no reports of direct impacts or injuries in the attack, the 11th from the Islamic Republic since midnight, according to Hebrew media.
The attack on Iranian oil facilities came after Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi accused the United States earlier in the day of attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island.
“The U.S. committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted,” he wrote on X
Araghchi warned that “attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.”
Iran has been accused of attacking oil facilities in neighboring countries more than once since the start of the war, with its officials blaming Israel for some of the attacks, saying that they were “flase-flage operations”.
The latest Israel attack could spark an all-out energy war in the Middle East. The Iranian retaliation will not likely be limited to oil facilities in Israel, but also to those owned or operated by U.S. companies in neighboring countries, like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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