Iran's another nuclear facility hit? Israel claims striking Taleghan compound, Tehran's nuke developing site

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it recently carried out a strike on an Iranian nuclear-related facility where the regime was working on “critical capabilities in the development of nuclear weapons”. According to the military, the site near Tehran, identified as the Taleghan compound, was targeted during several waves of air force strikes in the area over the past few days, Times of Israel reported on Thursday.

The IDF said that in recent years, Iran had used the site for developing advanced explosives and conducting sensitive experiments as part of the AMAD Project, which Israel says is a covert nuclear weapons development programme.

The Taleghan compound had previously been struck by Israel in October 2024, in retaliation for a missile attack launched by Iran earlier that month. According to the military, it recently detected that Iran had taken steps to rehabilitate the compound after the earlier strike.

The Israel Defense Forces said the latest strike forms part of a series of operations aimed at further damaging what it described as the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions. "The Iranian regime has continued efforts to advance and develop capabilities required for the development of a nuclear weapon," the military said as per the report.

Unrelenting Iranian attacks on shipping lanes and energy infrastructure pushed global oil prices above USD 100 a barrel on Thursday, as American and Israeli strikes continued to hit the Islamic Republic with no clear end to the conflict.

The price surge came as the confrontation between Iran, Israel and the United States intensified, raising fears of a wider regional crisis and disruption to global energy supplies. Iran targeted several sites across the Gulf region, including a container ship off the coast of Dubai. A blaze was also reported near Bahrain International Airport, while a drone strike targeted a major oil field in Saudi Arabia.

Iraq was forced to halt operations at all its oil terminals after an attack on the port of Basra along the Persian Gulf. New incidents were also reported in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, sirens sounded before dawn in Jerusalem as Israel intercepted incoming Iranian missiles. Loud explosions were heard later in the day during another attack on the city. Israel said it launched a "wide scale wave of strikes" on Tehran and in Lebanon, where it says it is targeting Iran-linked Hezbollah militants. At least 11 people were killed in two early morning strikes.

Since the United States and Israel began the war with a February 28 attack on Iran, Tehran has focused on inflicting global economic pressure in an effort to force them to halt their military campaign.

President Donald Trump indicated the conflict was unlikely to end soon, promising to “finish the job” despite claiming that Iran was "virtually destroyed". "We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job," he said during an event in Kentucky on Wednesday.

Iran’s newly chosen supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not yet made a public appearance or statement since being selected to succeed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the conflict. However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said online on Thursday that ending the war would require global recognition of Iran’s “legitimate rights”, compensation for damages and guarantees against future attacks.

Along with targeting energy infrastructure across the region, Iran holds a strategic position over the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply passes.

With shipping traffic in the strait effectively halted, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped another 9 per cent to above USD 100 a barrel, about 38 per cent higher than when the war began.