A huge gas pipe explosion caused the ground to shake on the streets of Tehran after Israel struck oil depots in Iran.
Israel has hit Iran’s fuel infrastructure for the first time in nine days as it launched a fresh wave of devastating strikes.
Video footage showed the moment a gas pipe in central Tehran sent a shockwave of explosions through buildings on the busy Shahran Boulevard.
Buildings shook and people ran for their lives as a flash of light swept through the street.
The explosions left behind a ‘river of fire’ on the streets of the city as burning oil leaked onto pavements and roads and into the city’s sewage system.
The blast came after Israeli strikes hit the nearby Shahran oil depot in the west of the city, one of four depots targeted in strikes on the Iranian capital.
Iran’s oil distribution company said four of its employees were killed in the strikes.
The skies over Tehran were turned red and filled with acrid smoke as fireballs erupted from the depots.
One resident in Tehran said it looked as if ‘night had turned into day’ as the sky was lit up by explosive orange flames from intense overnight infernos.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it had struck ‘several fuel storage complexes’ in Tehran as part of a ‘significant strike’ against the regime.
The strikes came as US President Donald Trump raised the possibility of the war against Iran ending when there was no longer a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said: ‘At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say “We surrender”.’
The president also warned Sir Keir Starmer that he will remember the lack of support from ‘our once great ally’ for a war he has ‘already won’ – as he told the British PM he doesn’t need Britain to send aircrafts to the Middle East in an extraordinary attack.
Trump’s sentiments were echoed by his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel will continue its war with Iran ‘with all our force’. He added that Israel has a ‘systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime’.
Alongside the United States, Netanyahu said Israel had gained near-total control of the skies over Tehran after a week of strikes, while the IDF has ‘many surprises’ for the next phase of the war.
‘Citizens, you are telling me, the government and our heroic soldiers to continue until victory, and I thank you. I can assure you that we will continue with all our force,’ Netanyahu said in a televised address last night.
Speaking to the Iranian people, he said the ‘moment of truth’ was coming as Israel was seeking to help liberate them from the ‘yoke of tyranny’.
He said that Israel had managed to ‘transform the Middle East’ and shift the balance of power in the region.
‘Together, we will roar like a lion. And with God’s help – together, we will ensure the eternity of Israel,’ he added.
The IDF said in a statement it had targeted Tehran’s oil and fuel depots because Iranian forces make ‘direct and frequent use of [them] to operate military infrastructure’.
Despite the strategic assaults on Tehran, Iran’s Deputy Defence Minister unrepentantly insisted reserves of bombs, drones and missiles ‘are fully ready and intact’ and the country will ‘confront any threat’ over the long term.
Depots in Tehran and Alborz provinces were among those struck, according to a statement by the National Iranian Oil Company.
State media blamed ‘an attack from the US and the Zionist regime’ at one of the facilities, which supplies the capital and neighbouring provinces in the north.
Friday saw some momentous announcements when it came to the leadership of the countries involved in the conflict.
Iran has announced it has chosen a new supreme leader, as Tehran continues to choke on thick, acrid smoke following US-Israeli airstrikes on fuel dumps last night.
The clerical body tasked with choosing a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – killed just over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war in the Middle East – has appointed his son Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Supreme Leader.
Israel, meanwhile, issued a stark warning that its forces would not hesitate to target the new chief and members of the Assembly of Experts that met to confirm him.
The news of an impending announcement of a new Ayatollah came on the same day the IDF claimed that the head of Iran’s Military Office, Abu al-Qassem Baba’iyan, has been killed in the latest wave of attacks.
The Iranian military official was also the Chief of Staff of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
He is the latest major figure in the regime to be killed in Israeli strikes, with President Trump previously admitting that a number of the figures the US can considered as potential successor for Ayatollah Khamenei had already been killed.
An IDF statement today said: ‘Baba’iyan was responsible for coordinating between the Iranian terror regime’s various force employment organizations to execute operations and emergency operations.’
Earlier in the day, the IDF said it had also struck two Iranian sites producing ballistic missiles for the regime.
The IDF said the two compounds, in Parchin and Shahrud, were used for the research, design and production of the deadly weapons.
On a message posted to X, the IDF said: ‘Over the past week, hundreds of IAF fighter jets struck the Iranian regime’s production industries, which are used for the development and production of missiles and weapons.’
Israel’s military said earlier that it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran during the first week of the war, with around 7,500 munitions dropped.
An IRGC spokesperson said the country would retaliate if attacks on its energy infrastructure continue.
‘If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game,’ said the spokesperson.
Iran has continued to mount its own attacks launching drones and missiles at Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Dubai – where one man was killed by falling shrapnel from an ‘aerial interception’ and two skyscrapers were damaged.
