Israel strikes Iran’s oil facilities for first time as war enters ninth day | Israel-Iran conflict news

The attacks set off a major conflagration when they hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz.

Thick smoke filled Tehran after Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s oil facilities killed at least four people for the first time since the war began.

Joint attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran continued for a ninth day on Sunday, killing more than 1,300 people in Iran and nearly 300 in Lebanon. About a dozen people were killed in Israel, according to officials.

Saturday’s strikes sparked major fires as they hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz province, which Iranian state media described as an “attack by the US and the Zionist regime,” Fars news agency reported.

The Aghdasih oil depot in northeast Tehran, the Tehran refinery in the south, the Shahran oil depot west of Tehran and the oil depot facilities in Karaj city were targeted. Eyewitnesses said oil was leaking from the Shahran depot onto the roads.

At least four tanker drivers were killed in the attacks in Tehran and Alborz, Fars reported. It added that despite the attack, “there is no shortfall in fuel supply” and security forces are “currently engaged in firefighting operations”.

Israel said it hit “several fuel storage facilities in Tehran” used to “maintain military infrastructure”.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the attacks on a civilian industrial facility were unprecedented.

“This is not the first time. In June, during the 12-day war, we saw fuel depots being targeted, but this is unprecedented,” Asadi said. “We are facing a critical situation in the capital in terms of war and environment.”

He described seeing black raindrops on his windows early Sunday morning. “There is a high risk of being surrounded by toxic air.”

Asadi said he was “gravely concerned” about the increasing number of civilian casualties.

“Three days ago, the number was around 1,300, but we know that in the past days, intense strikes targeting Iranian territory have continued, so the number is likely to increase,” he said.

A ‘dangerous’ precedent?

Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Wal, reporting from Tehran, said the attacks on oil facilities were part of a “psychological war” against the Iranians, “to scare them and make them believe that this is really the end of them”.

They also aim to limit the mobility of Iranian forces, he said.

“The Israelis are probably planning to cause an energy crisis in Iran, and the Iranians consider this an act of aggression and terrorism,” Wall said.

Still, Iran is a large country with many such facilities, so it’s doubtful a strike would cause a full-blown crisis, he said.