Israel strikes oil depots, escalating the war by targeting key infrastructure
The strikes represent a significant escalation, marking a strategic shift in the conflict towards targeting Iran's civil and industrial infrastructure.
- Israel conducted major strikes on key Iranian energy infrastructure, hitting several oil depots and Tehran's main refinery in Shahr Rey.
- The operation marks a significant escalation, representing a strategic shift from targeting military sites to attacking Iran's core economic and energy system for the first time.
- The Israeli military confirmed the attack, describing it as a "Significant Strike" aimed at dismantling infrastructure used to support Iranian government forces.
- The strikes caused massive explosions and damage in Tehran, prompting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to prepare for retaliatory attacks.
Foreign media reported that the Middle East crisis escalated further on the night of Saturday (March 7) when the Israeli military stepped up a major operation by striking several oil storage depots and energy infrastructure sites in Tehran and the neighbouring city of Karaj, causing massive explosions and huge fireballs to shoot into the sky, visible from miles away.
This operation marked the first time that the US-Israeli coalition forces had shifted from attacking military strongholds, naval bases and police stations to fully targeting Iran’s economic and energy system, after focusing last week on destroying its missile-production and nuclear weapons capabilities.
Damage locations: Main refinery and central oil depots
Iran’s Oil Ministry confirmed that several oil depots in Tehran and Alborz provinces had been targeted, particularly the following key strategic sites:
- Shahr Rey: Tehran’s main oil refinery, located in the south of the capital, was hit and engulfed in a major fire.
- Shahran oil depot: The site in north-western Tehran, which had already been attacked in June last year, was targeted again.
- Oil depot in Karaj: It was also struck and heavily damaged.
The Israeli military issued a statement confirming that the attack was a “Significant Strike” aimed at dismantling military infrastructure used by the Iranian government to support its own forces.
Civilians in fear: Airport and residential areas no longer safe
Only hours before the oil-depot strikes, Israel sent fighter jets to bomb Mehrabad Airport, the country’s busiest domestic aviation hub, claiming the raid was intended to destroy aircraft used to transport money and weapons to proxy groups in the region.
The force of the explosions at both the airport and the oil depots had a severe impact on residential neighbourhoods across Tehran, a city of more than 10 million people.
Residents reported that their homes shook violently, while roads and water pipelines were heavily damaged.
Some people had begun evacuating to rural areas because they felt that nowhere in the capital was safe any longer.
Iran’s response: Says energy supplies secure, prepares retaliation
Iran’s Oil Ministry said firefighters and rescue teams were rushing to bring the blaze under control, while insisting that the country would not face energy shortages because contingency measures had already been prepared in advance.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was preparing to launch a new wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel as a forceful response.
