The Israeli Air Force struck a research and development facility used by the Iranian regime to develop nuclear weapons components in Tehran, the military announced on Saturday.
The facility, which was located inside Tehran’s Malek-Ashtar University, was used to develop ballistic missiles in addition to nuclear weapons, the IDF stated.
Earlier on Saturday, the military announced that it had completed “wide-scale” strikes against dozens of Iranian regime targets overnight, including ballistic missile production facilities.
According to the IDF, the strikes "significantly degrade" Iran’s capability to continue producing ballistic missiles.
As part of the air force strikes, which were conducted based on intelligence from the IDF’s intelligence directorate, Israel hit Iranian defense industrial base facilities that produced “critical components for the development of ballistic missiles.”
Among the sites struck were a central Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ballistic missile production and development compound, a missile component storage facility, an Iranian Defense Ministry missile fuel production site, and a missile component production site.
Further, in the same announcement, the military said it had hit “several defense systems of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran” without specifying further. It noted, however, that the strikes were part of efforts to undermine the systems maintaining the regime’s grip on power.
Israel Air Force conducts rapid strikes on large-scale ballistic missile site in western Iran
Later on Saturday, the IDF announced that the air force had conducted five strikes on targets in a "large-scale ballistic missiles array site in western Iran." The military published footage of the strikes, which it said occured in a span of seconds and resulted in the killing of numerous Iranian ballistic missile array personnel.
The military noted that targeting Iran's ballistic missile array has been an emphasis of its offensive actions against the Islamic Republic's firepower. It added that the Iranian operatives at the western Iranian site had used the facility to advance attacks against Israel and other countries in the region.
It further vowed to continue operations to destroy Iran's ability to strike at Israel.
Investigation reveals US-Israeli strategy in degrading Iran’s missile capacity
On Friday, CNN published the findings of an investigation it conducted to uncover how the US and Israel were hunting down Iran’s missile apparatus.
The outlet said its analysis of satellite images from 27 Iranian underground bases, including 107 tunnels, indicated a US-Israeli campaign of airstrikes to demolish the entrances to bases where munitions were stored, burying them underground.
Of the tunnel entrances CNN was able to acquire satellite images of, the US and Israel had bombed at 77%.
However, the investigation also revealed evidence of rapid Iranian efforts to dig out munitions. At one site, CNN noted, such evidence appears less than two days after it was bombed.
The outlet noted that the Islamic Republic has a history of rushing to repair its assets following strikes.
After June’s 12-day war, CNN reported, Iran restored damaged parts of its missile production network, a complex linked to uranium enrichment centrifuges, and underground mid-range missile sites, indicating that strikes on such targets may only serve as temporary solutions.
Nevertheless, the US and Israel say they are approaching the completion of their goals in the war against Iran, although it is yet unclear when the countries will decide that those goals have been achieved.
Meanwhile, the US and Israel continue to fly missions in airspace, where they have boasted dominance.
On Saturday, the IDF reported that Iran had fired a surface-to-air missile at an IAF aircraft, but that the projectile had missed and the aircraft sustained no damage.
Later, the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency reported that a passenger pier in the southern coastal city of Bushehr was hit in US-Israeli strikes and that facilities and passenger vessels at the pier sustained damage.