Israel-Iran war: Israel strikes underground missile facility in western Iran's Khorramabad

The Israeli military on Saturday (Jun 14) said that it struck an underground facility in western Iran's Khorramabad, which contained surface-to-surface and cruise missiles.

“This is an important site that was even featured in a propaganda video by the Iranian regime in the past,” military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told journalists, referring to footage released by Iran's Revolutionary Guards earlier this year showing what it described as a new underground missile facility.

“It was struck and the senior officials associated with it have also been eliminated,” Defrin said, adding that “dozens of other such sites have also been destroyed.”

The military added that the site contained “storage tunnels for surface-to-surface missiles and cruise missiles as well as multiple launch shafts.”

Iranian media reported Israeli strikes on Lorestan province, where Khorramabad is located, on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel said that its aerial operations on Iran, which started on early Friday, have killed more than 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards commanders, including armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri. Nine nuclear scientists and experts have also been killed in the attack, the military said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday (June 14) that recent airstrikes on Iran have caused significant setbacks to the country’s nuclear ambitions and defence infrastructure.

Netanyahu also warned of more attacks, saying, “Very soon, you will see IAF planes above Tehran’s skies. We will hit every target of the ayatollahs’ regime.” He added that the current strikes were “nothing compared to what will be experienced in the coming days.”

The Israeli military earlier confirmed that its air force struck dozens of targets in Tehran, including Iran’s surface-to-air missile infrastructure.

“Overnight, the IAF struck dozens of targets… as part of the effort to damage the Iranian regime’s aerial defence capabilities in the area of Tehran,” the military said in a statement on Saturday.

Iran has said at least 78 people, including women and children, have been killed since Israel launched strikes, hitting dozens of targets across Iran on early Friday. Four senior Iranian military officers, including Major General Mohammad Bagheri and Major General Hossein Salami, were killed.

Following the deadly strike, Iran called the attack “a declaration of war” and launched retaliatory strikes. Israeli media reported that at least 34 were injured, while one person had died.