Israeli attacks continue; clashes escalate, IRGC commanders killed, and series of explosions in Tehran
Tehran – June 14, 2021: Following the wave of Israeli military attacks on targets inside Iran, security sources reported massive explosions in various parts of Tehran and the activation of air defenses in the city of Mashhad on Friday morning.
The IRGC’s Public Relations Office confirmed in a statement that eight senior IRGC aerospace commanders were killed in an area in western Iran following Israeli airstrikes.
The attacks were carried out as part of an operation that Israel called “Rising of the Lions.”
According to the Israeli Defense Ministry, over 80 targets across Tehran have been hit in the past few hours, including fuel depots, research sites related to the production of advanced weapons, and laboratory centers suspected of nuclear activity.
The ministry announced that a total of more than 170 targets and 720 related infrastructure have been attacked in different parts of Iran so far.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesman claimed that the country’s air force recently attacked an Iranian refueling plane at Mashhad airport, 2,300 kilometers away.
He emphasized that the aim of these operations is to gain complete air superiority over Iranian airspace and that these attacks will continue.
News sources reported multiple explosions in different parts of the capital, including around the Foreign Ministry guesthouse in the Niavaran neighborhood, as well as the bursting of main water pipes in Tehran’s Quds Square due to the wave of explosions.
Unconfirmed reports also indicate five explosions caused by car bombs in Tehran over the past hour.
In Tehran’s Islamshahr, security sources reported the discovery of a suicide drone manufacturing workshop affiliated with Mossad by Iranian intelligence forces.
In East Azerbaijan Province, Majid Farshi, the province’s director general of crisis management, announced that the death toll from the Israeli attacks on the region had reached 34.
Meanwhile, the Israeli media outlet Haaretz reported that the regime’s army has withdrawn some of its forces from the Gaza Strip in order to strengthen its northern and eastern borders.
According to security sources, concerns about the possible joining of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the infiltration of militants from the Jordanian and Syrian borders were cited as the main reason for this move.
In another development, an Israeli drone was shot down in the sky over Mashhad by Iranian air defense systems. Iranian sources described this move as a sign of defensive readiness against a new wave of attacks.
The developments on the ground continue as the region teeters on the brink of a greater crisis and concerns have grown that the conflict could escalate into a full-scale war between Iran and Israel
