A day after Israel struck Iran's oil depots, foreign media reported Sunday that the skies over Tehran remain shrouded in thick black clouds from the attacks, and rain that fell in recent hours has pooled on the ground tinted black, after airborne oil from the burning sites contaminated it.
Smoke over Tehran’s skies this morning, hours after the attack on the fuel depots
The British “Daily Mail” front-page headline: “River of fire” and “oil rains from the sky.”
"Tehran’s nearly 10 million people have woken to a morning overcast by thick black clouds after Israeli strikes hit Iran’s oil storage sites, CNN’s Fred Pleitgen reports from the Iranian capital. “You can see that the rain, the rainwater is actually black – also saturated, it appears, with oil,” Pleitgen reported. “So that’s what’s coming down this morning, this sort of oil-filled rain that we have right now on the Iranian capital, after the strikes took place.”
Residents in Tehran told the Persian-language service of the BBC that “last night was the worst night” since the U.S.-Israeli offensive began a week ago.
Smoke blankets the skies over Tehran this morning
(Photo: Majid Asgaripour/Wana (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
(Photo: Majid Asgaripour/Wana (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
(Photo: Majid Asgaripour/Wana(West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
(Photo: Majid Asgaripour/Wana (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
The reports of smoke-filled skies and oil-saturated rain came after the Israeli military struck 30 fuel storage tanks in Tehran on Saturday night, facilities used by the Islamic Republic’s military forces. Iran’s Fars News Agency, citing a source in the Iranian Oil Ministry, reported that Israeli fighter jets also attacked three oil depots in Kohak, Shahran and Karaj.
Fire burns after the Israeli attack last night
(Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP)
(Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP)
According to the IDF, it marked the first time during Operation Roaring Lion that the military targeted Iranian national infrastructure. The strike was carried out under instructions from Israel’s political leadership and with the support of the military.
“The military forces of the Iranian terrorist regime use fuel tanks directly and frequently to operate military infrastructure, and the Iranian terrorist regime uses them to transfer fuel to various consumers, including military bodies in Iran,” the IDF said in a statement.
“This is a significant strike that represents another stage in deepening the damage to the military infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime. “The IDF will continue to operate with force to significantly degrade the regime and remove threats to the State of Israel.”