Tehran:After Israeli airstrikes hit several important fuel storage facilities in Tehran, the city's skyline was lit up by huge explosions and huge clouds of smoke. This caused huge fires and panic in some parts of the city.
Iranian authorities claim that the attacks claimed the lives of at least four people, including two tanker drivers. The head of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company confirmed the deaths.
Several oil depots in and around Tehran were the targets of the strikes. According to Iranian officials, at least five facilities were affected, including a center for the transportation of petroleum products and four fuel storage depots. The main fuel depots in Shahran and Aghdasiyeh were among the locations impacted.
Massive fires started by the bombardment rose above the capital in dense columns of black smoke. Even in neighboring Karaj, the smoke could be seen from a distance of several kilometers. Videos that went viral on social media showed flames spreading throughout some of the fuel storage areas and fireballs bursting into the night sky.
The video from the scene also showed fuel leaking onto nearby roads and starting fires. Residents said that burning fuel spread along roads near the depots, making it look like a "river of fire" was flowing through the streets.
Emergency workers rushed to the areas that were affected and worked all night to put out the fires. Later, officials said they had put out the fires, but the damage temporarily stopped the flow of fuel in some parts of the capital.
The strikes also changed the weather in strange ways all over the city. CNN reporter Frederik Pleitgen said that after the attacks, rainwater that had turned black fell over some parts of Tehran. The rain seemed to have oil and soot from the burning fuel facilities mixed in with it.
By Sunday morning, a thick haze from the smoke was still hanging over the city, and people said they could still smell burning fuel in the air.
Iranian officials admitted that the explosions happened and that the fuel depots were damaged, but they insisted that the country's overall fuel reserves were still safe.
Later, the Israeli military confirmed the strikes, saying that its air force had hit "fuel storage facilities in Tehran" to keep them from being used by Iran's military.
Israel issued a warning regarding Iran's political leadership change in a different message that was shared on a social media account in Farsi. Members of Iran's Assembly of Experts tasked with choosing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's successor were cautioned in the message that they might also be targeted.
The post stated, "This is a warning." "We will not hesitate to target anyone who plans to attend the successor selection meeting."