Amid diplomatic overtures and backchannel attempts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, the US-Israel offensive against Iran continues unabated, with the neighbourhood housing the Pakistan embassy in Tehran among those being targeted by air strikes.
Warplanes could be heard overhead in northern districts of Tehran after dark, and shortly thereafter several loud explosions rang out.
Reports suggested that the neighbourhoods of Fatimid and Pasdaran — which house Islamabad’s embassy and Pakistan House — were heavily bombed.
However, these buildings were not targeted. The embassy had already shifted away from the Iranian capital since the start of the war, with staff only returning briefly for the Pakistan Day ceremony on March 23, a diplomatic source told.
Iranian media reported US-Israeli attacks in the central cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, in Bandar Abbas in the south and Tabriz in the northwest, but also Mashhad and Birjand, towards the Afghan border in an area largely spared until now.
On Thursday, Iran launched multiple waves of its own missiles at Israel, striking Tel Aviv, Haifa and other areas.
At least one ballistic missile hit Tel Aviv, according to the military, while others carried cluster munitions that dispersed smaller explosives, damaging homes and cars.
Israel also claimed the assassination of Iran’s naval chief Alireza Tangsiri and several senior officers, but there was no confirmation of this from Tehran until going to press.
