Moment Iran’s tallest bridge – and highest in Middle East – is blown to pieces in US-Israeli airstrikes ‘killing eight and injuring at least 95’
The US-Israeli strikes which destroyed Iran’s tallest bridge have killed eight people, according to Iran.
The B1 bridge, which links Iran’s capital with the western city of Karaj, was targeted in two waves of strikes on Thursday after Donald Trump threatened to bomb Tehran ‘back to the ‘Stone Age’.
The second attack on the 136-metre structure took place while rescue forces were at the scene helping injured at least 95 people, Iranian state media claimed.
Footage shows smoke lingering in the air before an enormous blast caused an even thicker plume to rise into the sky.
The strike caused major damage to the bridge, the tallest in the Middle East, and a gaping hole can be seen in the middle of the structure.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the attack ‘only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray’.
He added: ‘Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.’
He later said there’s ‘one striking difference’ between the present and the Stone Age.
US-Israeli strikes destroyed Iran’s tallest bridge after Donald Trump threatened to bomb Tehran ‘back to the ‘Stone Age’
The B1 bridge, which links Iran’s capital with the western city of Karaj, was targeted in two waves of strikes on Thursday
‘There was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then,’ he added.
‘Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?’
The Iranian regime also said bombs hit the capital on Thursday including a 105-year-old sold medical facility.
Dr Hossein Kermanpour, Iran’s health ministry spokesman, said: ‘The aggression against Pasteur Institute of Iran, a century-old pillar of global health and member of the international Pasteur Network, is a direct assault on international health security.’
Iran threatened that in response to the attack, bridges in Israel and throughout the Middle East have become ‘legitimate targets.’
It came after Mr Trump assured the US that the military was close to defeating Iran and pledged to bomb the Islamic Republic ‘back to the Stone Ages.’
The US President insisted the military operation to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon would not devolve into a ‘forever war’ like the US quagmires in Iraq and Vietnam.
‘We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,’ he said during an address from The White House.
Mr Trump said that because of the US military’s might, Americans no longer fear the threat of ‘nuclear blackmail’ from Tehran.
‘They were the bully of the Middle East, but they’re the bully no longer. This is a true investment in your children’s and your grandchildren’s future.’
The attack came after Mr Trump assured the US that the military was close to defeating Iran and pledged to bomb the Islamic Republic ‘back to the Stone Ages’
He also noted that in ‘these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield.’
Trump recalled how the US had spent years fighting in Iraq, Korea, Vietnam and two World Wars before pointing out the conflict with Iran had, so far, only lasted 32 days.
‘We are in this military operation – so powerful, so brilliant – against one of the most powerful countries, for 32 days, and that country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat,’ he claimed.
Trump said US military action had been ‘so powerful, so brilliant’ that ‘one of the most powerful countries’ is ‘really no longer a threat’ — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors early Thursday.
‘Our enemies are losing. And America, as it has been for five years under my presidency, is winning – and now winning bigger than ever before.’
Iran and Hezbollah launched rockets from Lebanon into Central Israel on Wednesday as Passover began and continued the attack into Thursday morning, The Times of Israel reported.
