IDF strikes Iranian state broadcaster HQ after evacuation orders

The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday it attacked military targets in Tehran, as the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting propaganda channel confirmed that its headquarters was hit by airstrikes.

“The Iranian regime’s propagandist and inciting broadcasting authority was attacked by the IDF following the wide-scale evacuation of nearby residents,” Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on social media.

“We will strike the Iranian dictator wherever he may be,” Katz added.

According to the IDF, the strike targeted a “communication center that was being used for military purposes by the Iranian Armed Forces.”

The building was used by the regime “under the guise of civilian activity, covering up the military use of the center’s infrastructure and assets,” it said, noting that the attack “directly harmed the military capabilities of the Iranian Armed Forces.”

“Prior to the strike, the IDF provided an effective advanced warning to the civilian population, including phone calls, and conducted the strike in a precise manner in order to mitigate harm to civilians as far as feasible,” it added.

Footage of the strikes on the IRIB TV offices was widely shared on social media.

In November 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the IRIB and six individuals associated with it for their involvement in the Iranian government’s censorship activities. IRIB forced and broadcast hundreds of confessions from people detained by the Islamic regime.

The attack came after the IDF issued an evacuation order for parts of a Tehran district, urging noncombatants to leave the area immediately.

“For your safety, we kindly request that you immediately evacuate the mentioned area in District 3 of Tehran,” the Israeli military urged in a statement in Farsi. “Your presence in this area puts your life at risk.”

Katz said, in a subsequent statement, “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear. The evacuation of local residents is beginning.”

The IDF is “on the way to victory” over the threats posed by Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared earlier Monday afternoon.

“We are on the path to achieving our two goals: eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat,” the premier said during a tour of the Israel Air Force’s Tel Nof Airbase in central Israel, speaking alongside Katz.

“When we control Tehran’s skies, we strike these [nuclear and military] targets—regime targets—unlike the criminal Iranian regime, which targets our civilians and comes to kill children and women,” he added.

Jerusalem launched “Operation Rising Lion” because intelligence indicated that Tehran had amassed enough highly enriched uranium for nine bombs, Netanyahu told the U.S. TV channel Fox News on Sunday.

Netanyahu has said the operation would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” vowing to end “the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”