Israel hits Iran's Evin prison, Revolutionary Guards sites

TEL AVIV: Israel hit Revolutionary Guard sites and the notorious Evin prison in Tehran on Monday, calling them its most powerful strikes yet on the Iranian capital on the 11th day of the war.

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 United States hit the previous day with "bunker buster" bombs.

President Donald Trump boasted Sunday's US strikes had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities, but other officials said it was too soon to assess the impact on Iran's nuclear programme.

Sirens sounded across Israel on Monday and AFP journalists reported blasts were heard over Jerusalem. Defence 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".