Kolkata: On June 23, Israel targeted Tehran’s Evin prison, a place which is regarded as one of the most powerful symbols of the current regime of Iran. The attack took place during what Israel called the most intense bombing yet of Tehran. It took place a day after the US reportedly bombed nuclear sites in Iran.
The Evin prison is located in Tehran’s Evin neighborhood and was founded in 1972. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the prison has gained notoriety and has become the country’s most infamous detention facility. In that place, the incarceration of political prisoners, journalists, academics, human rights activists, dual nationals, and foreign citizens accused of espionage or propaganda offenses takes place.
According to the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, the ground situation was “under control” after the attack. A CCTV footage showed an explosion at one of the gates of the prison. The pictures on the state TV showed first responders carrying a casualty and searching for survivors under a building destroyed by the Israeli attack. As per a BBC report, the defence minister of Israel has said the country is hitting “regime targets and agencies of government repression” across Tehran.
Notably, the Israeli military has reportedly claimed to have struck access routes to the Fordo uranium enrichment plant located to the south of Tehran on the same day. Interestingly, the US had also claimed to have hit Iran’s underground enrichment site at Fordo during its attack on June 22.
On Monday, waves of Iranian ballistic missiles hit various locations across Israel. One of the missiles hit an industrial area close to a power station in Ashdod, a coastal city. In some areas, electricity supplies were disrupted due to the attack.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has explained the reason behind Moscow opting to watch the proceedings from the sidelines instead of directly helping Tehran. A close ally of Iran for decades, Russia has yet to get actively involved in the war. Putin said he is trying to stay neutral in the conflict because a huge number of Russian-speaking people reside in Israel.
He gave the reason during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. According to Putin, “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that almost two million people from the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation reside in Israel. It is almost a Russian-speaking country today. And, undoubtedly, we always take this into account in Russia’s contemporary history.”
