While still receiving Iranian missiles, Israel is intensifying its offensive against the ayatollahs' regime, striking new targets, some symbolic, intended to tighten the siege on the country whose supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has been largely out of the public eye for days. These are"unprecedented" blows, as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has described them: Evin Prison, where opposition detainees are held; the famous clock that purports to mark the supposed countdown to the end of the State of Israel; military airports; and the headquarters of a Revolutionary Guard unit. At the same time, Israel is considering ending the campaign of attacks against the Islamic Republic launched on June 13, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing Israeli and Arab sources. All this if Tehran agrees to stop attacking, a decision that rests in the hands of the supreme leader.

Overthrowing the regime was not, in principle, the objective of the attacks unleashed on June 13, although Israeli authorities do not hide the fact that, if it falls as a result of the current offensive, they would welcome it. The attacks launched in recent hours suggest that the escalation seeks not only to destroy Iran's nuclear program and missile production, the main goals set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but to go further.

Among the targets the Jewish state claims to have hit is the headquarters of the Basij paramilitary force, one of the five branches of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the parallel army that directly serves Khamenei. This is a tool for maintaining public order and punishing dissent, which is why they are frequent protagonists in the repression of protest marches against the regime.

A video released by the Israeli government shows an explosion at the gates of Tehran's Evin Prison, although the extent of the damage and whether there were any casualties are unknown. The prison is used by the regime to carry out executions and punish opponents and political prisoners. Some of the prisoners are foreigners or have dual nationality and are used for prisoner exchanges with Western countries.

The so-called Alborz Corps, tasked with protecting several towns in Tehran province and maintaining regime stability, has also been hit, as have security force headquarters.

The so-called"Destruction Clock," installed in Tehran's Palestine Square in 2017, has also been attacked by the Israeli army, according to the targets listed by Israel Katz. This clock is ticking down toward the disappearance of the Jewish state, which they estimate will happen by 2040. Wiping Israel off the map is part of the ideology of the Islamic Revolution.

A United Nations mission maintains that Israel may have violated international humanitarian law after killing dozens of civilians in an apartment building and three aid workers in Tehran. Furthermore,"among the damaged sites were a clinic for children with autism and a hospital in Kermanshah," according to statements made to the media at the launch of the report, Reuters reports.

Iran, for its part, has launched several missiles at different regions of Israel. One of them hit a strategic facility, according to local media, causing power outages for tens of thousands of users for part of the morning. Video shot from inside a vehicle shows a projectile landing next to a road in Ashdod, an Israeli city near Gaza, according to the Qatari network Al Jazeera.

In a gesture that clearly reflects the political repercussions surrounding Israel's attacks on Iran, the Jewish state's Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, celebrated with images of the attack on Evin prison, using a phrase frequently used by Argentine President Javier Milei, whom he tagged in his message:"Long live freedom, damn it!"

Damage after the US attack?

Questions remain about the potential damage caused by the US attacks on Iran's nuclear program early Sunday morning. Washington insists that they have destroyed Iran's ability to build an atomic bomb, although the regime has always denied that this was the objective of a program it considers civilian."Iran's nuclear facilities have been totally and completely destroyed," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told ABC.

Although there are some satellite images before and after these bombings, they do not help confirm the damage, which the Iranian regime denies. In response, Tehran has begun to target US citizens and interests in the region and has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world's oil passes. So far, neither one nor the other.

There is, however, some fear of a possible immediate response. In Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the region, the US Embassy has advised its citizens to shelter in place and exercise extreme caution.