Israeli strikes trigger ball of fire at Tehran international airport, video emerges

A purported video showing Israeli strikes at Tehran's Mehrabad international airport emerged on social media on Saturday. The footage showed a large ball of fire and billows of the smoke filling up the sky.

Mint could not verify the video.

The video emerged after the Israeli military said it was carrying out an “extensive” wave of strikes against regime targets in Iran’s capital.

Israel said on March 7 it had launched "broad-scale" strikes on targets in Tehran, as the Iranian state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the city.

On March 6, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it launched 15th wave of airstrikes against the infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime in Tehran.

"The IDF has now begun a broad wave of attacks against the infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime in Tehran and Isfahan," the IDF said, adding in another tweet that it "struck a senior commander of the Iranian terror regime in Tehran."

The IDF also shared a video claiming to show how it “destroyed [Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei's underground bunker, which was built under the regime's leadership compound.”

"This morning, approximately 50 Air Force fighter jets, with precise guidance from the Intelligence Directorate and in cooperation with the Anti-Terrorism Directorate, attacked Ali Khamenei's underground bunker, which was built under the leadership compound of the Iranian terrorist regime in the heart of Tehran," the IDF said.

On March 5, the Israel Defense Forces said that in an "overnight activity," the Israel Air Force "aircraft struck and dismantled an armed ballistic missile launcher in the area of Qom that was ready to fire at Israel."

"An Iranian aerial defense system was also struck in Isfahan. Prior to the strikes, the IDF took multiple measures to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians," the IDF said while a sharing a video on X.

The US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran on February 28 after nuclear deal talks between Washington and Tehran failed. Iran retaliated to the US-Israeli drones and missile strikes.

The fallout of the ongoing conflict is being witnessed in other parts of the Middle-East, with Iran allegedly attacking US embassies in neighbouring cities of Bahrain, Riyadh, Kuwait and Qatar.