An Israeli strike damaged sections of Tehran's Evin Prison, a facility holding political dissidents, journalists and foreign nationals, as attacks between Israel and Iran entered a new phase following US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The number of casualties at the prison was not immediately known.
Iran's judiciary said the situation at Evin was under control but acknowledged damage within the complex. State television showed rescuers carrying one casualty and searching beneath a collapsed structure. Residents in the densely populated area around the prison reported a powerful explosion that shattered nearby windows. Verified video showed debris and damaged vehicles on a street, while other imagery indicated substantial damage to the Shahid Moghaddas Prosecutor's Office inside the grounds.
The uncertainty extended to people inside. Relatives were commonly present at the prosecutor's office during business hours, and images reviewed by BBC Persian reportedly showed injured visitors. Prisoners in the women's section told family members that the ceiling had been damaged and panic followed, without reporting injuries there. Several men in Section 4 were reportedly hurt by the blast wave while in the prison library.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military attacked government and security bodies in Tehran, describing Evin and other sites as instruments of repression. The target list he identified also included the Basij Resistance Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' internal-security headquarters and other official facilities. Israel's military said its aircraft struck command centres, including an IRGC site responsible for defending Tehran against security threats.
The attack drew concern because Evin combines security institutions with a large detained population. Amnesty International warned that deliberately striking civilian objects is prohibited under international humanitarian law. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the prison strike unacceptable and said it endangered two French citizens detained there on spying charges. Former prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe expressed fear for people still inside.
Israel also said it struck access routes to the Fordo uranium-enrichment plant south of Tehran. That came one day after US aircraft used ground-penetrating bombs against Fordo, where centrifuges operate deep underground. International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi said visible craters indicated penetrator munitions and that significant damage was expected because centrifuges are highly sensitive to vibration. Iran said the site had been evacuated before the US attack.
Iranian missiles, meanwhile, hit locations in Israel, including an industrial zone in Ashdod near a power station. Israeli authorities said Iranian attacks had killed 24 people during the ten-day conflict. Iran's Health Ministry put deaths from Israeli strikes at about 500, while a human-rights group offered a higher estimate of 950. Those conflicting totals were not resolved in the evidence. The strike on Evin placed detainee safety at the centre of a confrontation that had already spread from military sites to urban institutions.
