Israel hits Iran government targets, prison as Tehran launches new attacks

Israel launched missiles at several Iranian government targets and a notorious prison, while Tehran said it was targeting the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Israel hit Iranian government targets in Tehran on Monday in a series of strikes that followed a salvo of missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel in the wake of the Trump administration’s massive strikes on Iranian nuclear sites the day before.

The Israeli military also confirmed it struck roads around Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility to obstruct access to the site. The underground site was one of those hit in Sunday’s attack by the United States on three nuclear facilities. The Israeli military did not elaborate.

In Tehran attacks, Israel’s Defense Ministry said it hit targets that included the notorious Evin Prison in the Iranian capital and the security headquarters of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards.

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

In Vienna, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said he expected there to be heavy damage at the Fordo facility already following Sunday’s U.S. airstrike there with sophisticated bunker-buster bombs.

“Given the explosive payload utilized … very significant damage … is expected to have occurred,” said Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

With the strikes on Sunday on Iranian nuclear sites, the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war, prompting fears of a wider regional conflict. Iran said the U.S. had crossed “a very big red line” with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.

Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, have claimed Iran removed nuclear material from targeted sites ahead of time.