US President Donald Trump has shared a video of a massive explosion in Iran, which, according to media reports, took place in the city of Isfahan in the early hours of Tuesday. The footage shows a series of blasts, followed by massive fires lighting up the night sky in orange hues.
Trump did not provide any context to the video, but media reports claim it’s of the US and Israeli joint strikes on a major ammunition depot in Isfahan, an Iranian city with a population of 2.3 million and home to the Badr military airbase. NDTV could not independently confirm the authenticity of the clip.
According to a US official cited by The Wall Street Journal, US forces hit the ammunition depot in Isfahan with 2,000-pound (approx. 907-kilogram) bunker buster bombs. “A high volume of bunker busters, or penetrator munitions, was used for the strike,” the official said.
Reports have claimed that the attack triggered a series of powerful secondary explosions that sent towering fireballs and shockwaves across the area. The strike has heightened fears of escalation as the war entered its second month, even as Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met to seek a diplomatic off-ramp.
Recent reports have suggested that Iran may have moved highly enriched uranium stockpiles, estimated to be around 540kg, to an underground facility in Isfahan. The city had also been targeted previously during a US strike last year in the summer under Operation Midnight Hammer, which focused on its nuclear facilities.
The reports of the strikes came a day after Trump, on Monday, threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including nuclear facilities and water plants, if a deal to end the war is not reached “shortly”.
Trump had said the US would destroy Iranian energy sites if discussions with a “new and more reasonable regime” didn’t amount to a deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly alleged that Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon, a claim not supported by the UN nuclear watchdog, and that comes