Israel says it struck Tehran’s Evin jail and Fordo entry routes

Israel has struck Tehran’s infamous Evin jail and broken elements of the power, which holds many political detainees, Iran’s judiciary says.

The judiciary’s Mizan information company reported that the state of affairs was “beneath management” following the assault, which it mentioned violated worldwide legislation. State TV footage confirmed first responders carrying a casualty on a stretcher and trying to find survivors beneath a flattened constructing.

Israel’s defence minister mentioned it hit “regime targets and companies of presidency repression” throughout Tehran, together with Evin.

France’s international minister mentioned the strike on the jail was “unacceptable” as a result of it endangered the lives of two of its residents held there.

The Israeli army additionally mentioned on Monday that it had struck entry routes to the Fordo uranium enrichment plant, which is south of the capital. It got here a day after US plane dropped “bunker-busting” bombs on the underground facility.

Iranian ballistic missiles in the meantime struck varied places throughout Israel, together with an industrial space within the coastal metropolis of Ashdod, near an influence station.

Ten days in the past, Israel launched an air marketing campaign in opposition to Iran, saying it aimed to take away what it known as the “existential threats” of the nation’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Iran’s well being ministry says Israeli strikes have killed round 500 individuals to this point, though one human rights group has put the loss of life toll at 950.

Iranian missile strikes on Israeli cities have killed 24 individuals, in line with Israeli authorities.

Evin jail homes hundreds of women and men, together with outstanding political dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, and twin and international nationals.

Residents of the densely populated surrounding space instructed BBC Persian that there was a strong explosion on Monday that shattered the home windows of close by houses.

One verified video confirmed broken automobiles and particles scattered throughout a avenue, whereas one other confirmed vital harm to the Shahid Moghaddas Prosecutor’s Workplace, a particular safety department positioned contained in the jail advanced.

It’s not clear what number of casualties there have been, and whether or not civilians had been amongst them.

Nonetheless, the prosecutor’s workplace is normally stuffed throughout working hours with inmates’ family members, attorneys, as effectively prosecutors and judges.

Photos reviewed by BBC Persian had been mentioned to point out injured individuals who had been visiting imprisoned family members on the time of the strike.

Inmates at Evin’s ladies’s part reportedly instructed their households that the ceiling was broken and that panic broke out amongst prisoners, though they didn’t report any accidents.

Nonetheless, in Part 4, the shockwave from the explosion was mentioned to have induced accidents to a number of males who had been contained in the jail library.

Amnesty Worldwide mentioned it was “extraordinarily distressed” by the stories from Evin.

“Intentionally attacking civilian objects is prohibited beneath worldwide humanitarian legislation and would quantity to a conflict crime,” the human rights group warned.

Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s international minister, additionally condemned the strike as “unacceptable”, saying it had endangered two French nationals “held hostage” on the jail on spying costs.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian lady who was imprisoned for years at Evin, instructed the BBC she felt “sick” with concern following the strike.

“If you find yourself in jail, it turns into your private home. After I heard this morning that Evin jail was bombed, I felt a pointy ache in my coronary heart. After I was launched, I left a chunk of my coronary heart there.”

She mentioned she had made “probably the most unimaginable friendships” with fellow inmates.

She added: “For me, considering that these people who find themselves caught in jail are scared, traumatized, frightened for themselves, but in addition for the people who find themselves outdoors – who most likely do not know what they’re going by – it makes me really feel sick.”

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned the Israeli army attacked “regime targets and repressive authorities within the coronary heart of Tehran with unprecedented drive” on Monday.

He mentioned the targets included Evin, the headquarters of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Power, which helps suppress home dissent, the interior safety headquarters of the highly effective Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), in addition to what he described because the “ideology headquarters” and the “Israel Destruction” clock in Palestine Sq..

Iran’s semi-official Mehr information company reported that the clock – which counts down the times till 2040, based mostly on a 2015 prediction by Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that inside 25 years the Jewish state would “stop to exist” – was not broken.

The Israeli army mentioned its fighter jets had focused a number of army command centres – together with the IRGC’s “Thar-Allah” facility, which is designated to defend Tehran from safety threats.

The Israeli army additionally mentioned on Monday that it “struck in an effort to hinder entry routes to the Fordo enrichment web site”.

President Donald Trump mentioned on Sunday {that a} US air strike involving bunker-busting huge ordnance penetrator (MOP) bombs “obliterated” the power, the place cascades of centrifuges positioned about 80m (260ft) beneath floor had been enriching uranium to 60% purity.

Uranium enriched to between 3% and 5% purity is used to make gas for nuclear energy stations, however 60% is barely a brief, technical step away from weapons grade.

Iran accused the US of exhibiting no respect for worldwide legislation and mentioned it had already evacuated Fordo earlier than the assault. Satellite tv for pc imagery from final Thursday appeared to point out cargo lorries leaving the location.

The director basic of the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company (IAEA) mentioned on Monday that craters had been seen at Fordo, which indicated the usage of ground-penetrating munitions.

“Given the explosive payload utilized, and the intense vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very vital harm is anticipated to have occurred,” Rafael Grossi instructed a gathering of the worldwide watchdog’s board in Vienna.

He mentioned the IAEA had noticed that extra buildings on the Isfahan nuclear web site had been hit by US cruise missiles on Sunday, together with some associated to the uranium conversion course of, in addition to entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched materials.

The US additionally instructed the IAEA that it had used ground-penetrating bombs in a strike on the underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, he added.

Grossi known as for his company to be given entry to Iranian nuclear websites to “account for” the nation’s stockpile of enriched uranium. On the finish of Could, it mentioned Iran had sufficient 60% enriched materials to probably make 9 nuclear weapons.

When it started putting Iran, the Israeli army mentioned it had intelligence exhibiting Iran had lately made “concrete progress” in direction of producing elements for a nuclear bomb.

Iran denied the declare and insisted that its nuclear programme was completely peaceable.

Israel is broadly believed to have nuclear weapons, though it neither confirms nor denies this.

Replace 23 June 2025: An earlier model of this text included a video that presupposed to be CCTV footage of an explosion on the Evin jail gate. The video had been run on Iranian state media and was shared by the Israeli international minister on social media. We initially verified the video by geolocation and recency checks, however now suspect it might have been AI-generated. The video has been eliminated whereas we work with forensic specialists to additional examine its authenticity, and we’ve eliminated a reference to CCTV from the physique of the article.