US-Israeli strikes cut power across Tehran and Karaj

ALBAWABA- Widespread blackouts hit multiple areas of Iran’s capital and the neighboring city of Karaj following Israeli airstrikes targeting electricity infrastructure and fuel depots, officials and residents reported. 

Tehran neighborhoods, including Shahr-e Rey, as well as parts of Alborz province, experienced sudden power losses, with state media and eyewitness accounts confirming damage to generation and distribution networks.

Iranian authorities said the outages resulted from U.S.-Israeli strikes on energy sites serving civilian purposes. The attacks follow earlier US-Israeli warnings about targeting Iran’s power grid. 

On March 21, President Donald Trump had threatened to “obliterate” Iranian power plants unless Tehran reopened the Strait of Hormuz. While full-scale strikes on major plants were postponed, targeted operations against energy and fuel infrastructure have continued.

The attacks come after Iran’s Sunday retaliatory missile strike on Israel’s Neot Hovav industrial zone near Beersheba, home to major chemical and ammonia storage facilities. 

Tehran described that attack as a calibrated response to US-Israeli bombardment of Iranian steel, nuclear, and petrochemical sites. Iranian state television broadcast footage of the strike, claiming disruption to Israeli industrial output with minimal civilian casualties.

While Washington and Jerusalem frame the campaign as aimed at regime change and neutralizing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, the targeting of power generation and fuel depots signals a widening scope with economic and humanitarian consequences. Prolonged blackouts directly affect millions of civilians, risking domestic unrest even as the regime calls for national unity.

After failing to change the Iranian regime under the pretext of “liberating” the Iranian people, the United States and Israel have now turned their attacks on the very infrastructure that civilians depend on, exposing the multi-layered hypocrisy of both powers. 

In a pattern reminiscent of Gaza, where thousands of civilians were killed under the claim that they were “human shields” for Hamas, the U.S. and Israel are applying the same logic to Iran. 

Ordinary Iranians who support their government in resisting U.S.-Israeli assaults, contrary to the objectives of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, are being punished for their loyalty, bearing the brunt of strikes on power, fuel, and essential infrastructure.