Smoke filled Tehran’s skyline on Sunday after its oil depots were hit by a heavy wave of US-Israeli strikes as conflict escalated in the Middle East.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said around 20 large oil storage tanks were targeted in the attack on Saturday, which caused a major fire at Iran’s Aqdasieh fuel depot.
Strikes on the oil storage facilities had lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame.
Footage shows plumes of dark smoke emanating from a facility, lingering and merging with the cloudy sky over the country’s capital. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
The National Iranian Oil Company said a number of oil depots in both Tehran and Alborz provinces were struck and that four of its employees were killed in the blitz.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the large-scale attack marked a "dangerous new phase" of the conflict and amounted to a war crime.
"By targeting fuel depots, the aggressors are releasing hazardous materials and toxic substances into the air, poisoning civilians, devastating the environment, and endangering lives on a massive scale," he wrote on X.
Israeli military spokesman lieutenant colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the depots were used to fuel Iran's war effort, including producing or storing propellant for ballistic missiles. "They are a legal military target," he said.
Shortly after the attack, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran's rulers "without mercy".
"We have an organised plan with many surprises to destabilise the regime and enable change," he said in a video statement. "We have many more targets."
President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was not interested in negotiating an end to the conflict.
"At some point, I don't think there will be anybody left to say, 'We surrender'," the president said.
Meanwhile, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks in their countries on Saturday and early Sunday, with a huge fire engulfing a government office block in Kuwait.
As the conflict enters its ninth day, Kuwait's interior ministry said two of its officers were killed "while performing duties", while the UAE said four migrant workers had died in Iranian attacks there so far.
Showing the intensity of the offensive, the UAE said air defence teams had knocked out 16 ballistic missiles and 113 drones fired towards the Gulf state on Sunday. One missile fell in the sea and four drones hit the country's territories.
Bahrain said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack had caused "material damage" to a desalination plant, though the country's electricity and water authority said the strike had not disrupted water supplies.
Also on Sunday, Iran elected a new supreme leader following a meeting of its Assembly of Experts, a senior Iranian official has said.
Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of the panel, told state media that a leader had been chosen after an election - without naming who had been selected.
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