Blasts reported in Tehran as Israel says it launched strikes

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TEHRAN - Explosions rang out in Tehran early on the morning of March 23, Iranian media reported, as Israel announced it launched a fresh wave of strikes.

“Explosion heard in Tehran,” local media Mehr posted on Telegram, while Fars news agency said air strikes had targeted five areas of the Iranian capital and that “terrible sounds of explosions have been reported”.

More than an hour after the reports, a thick plume of black smoke could still be seen billowing from one point in eastern Tehran, an AFP journalist noted.

In a post on Telegram, Israel’s military said it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran”. AFP