While Iranian state television aired a live broadcast on Monday, a sudden explosion shook the studio, sending the anchor scrambling for safety as debris and smoke filled the room. The live feed cut out abruptly after the blast.
The explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the headquarters of IRIB, Iran’s official state broadcasting service, marking a significant expansion in Israel’s military offensive within Iran.
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Up until this point, Israeli military officials had stated that their operations were limited to strategic sites tied to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and missile capabilities.
That claim was called into question as Israel issued multiple evacuation alerts for heavily populated sectors of Tehran, including the neighborhood where Iran’s main broadcasting station is situated.
The exact number of civilians who have complied with the evacuation orders remains uncertain, and there are growing doubts over whether a large-scale departure is logistically feasible in such a short window.
According to Iran’s health ministry, Israeli strikes have resulted in the deaths of roughly 250 Iranians since Friday. Meanwhile, Israel reports 24 fatalities on its side due to Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks, which on Monday struck Israel’s oil refinery in Haifa.
Israeli military officials now say they’ve established dominance over the skies of Tehran by disabling Iran’s aerial defense network.
Over the weekend, Israeli authorities reportedly considered taking out Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, believing they had the opportunity to do so. However, President Trump advised against moving forward with the plan.
Israel has since requested that the Trump administration directly engage in the war, particularly to help neutralize Iran’s fortified underground uranium enrichment plants. Thus far, U.S. involvement has remained limited to supporting Israel’s defensive measures.
Following a fresh round of Iranian missile launches on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz warned that residents of Tehran would soon “pay the price” for the strikes against Israeli population centers.
Not long afterward, Katz clarified that his comment did not mean civilians would be deliberately harmed, but rather that they would be removed from danger zones through evacuation.
Before the airstrike on the TV station, Katz had also declared: “Iran’s propaganda mouthpiece is going to be silenced.”
Roughly thirty minutes after the hit on the broadcast headquarters, Iranian state television resumed its programming from a different studio. The anchor who had been live during the explosion, Sahar Emami, eventually returned to the air.
{Matzav.com}