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Israel’s military confirmed it bombed the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) headquarters in Tehran on Monday, knocking its main news channels off the air and igniting a fire that continued burning late into the night.
Israel’s military said the strike targeted a facility used by Iran’s armed forces “to advance military operations under civilian activity.”
A video sent to Iran International showed smoke still pouring from the building after nightfall.
A sprawling and modern office complex, the state media headquarters oversees several channels and is viewed by Tehran’s detractors as a key pillar of the Islamic Republic’s control over society.
The building most affected was the Glass Building, the network’s central studio complex, named for its transparent walls.
The strike followed a public warning by the Israeli military’s Persian-language spokesperson, who called on residents of Tehran’s District 3 to evacuate hours before the attack.
An IRIB presenter confirmed that at least four bombs hit the broadcaster's compound. “The missile hit the office of [IRIB chief] Peyman Jebelli,” he said. “Jebelli was in the newsroom at the time and survived.”
The 21:00 nightly news—the Islamic Republic’s most prominent broadcast—was canceled for the first time in 43 years Monday night.
Earlier, IRIB announced its 20:30 bulletin could not air due to the damage. Multiple interruptions hit the News Channel’s live coverage, and the broadcasts were moved to alternative studios, but the extent of the casualties remains unclear.
An IRIB reporter said only several colleagues were injured. However, Hamshahri, a Tehran-based daily affiliated with the municipality, reported that several employees were killed in the attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X: “The Iranian regime's propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority was attacked by the IDF after a widespread evacuation of residents in the area. We will defeat the Iranian dictator everywhere.”
IRIB’s symbolic and operational role in the Islamic Republic made the strike particularly significant.
Following the on the IRIB headquarters, a surge of celebratory reactions flooded social media and Iran International.
Videos neighborhood captured chants of “death to the dictator” and “death to Khamenei” ringing out from windows around the IRIB complex.
The attack on the state broadcaster underscores a major shift in Israel’s strategy: targeting not just military infrastructure, but the ruling system’s institutions.
US President Donald Trump said Iran was on the backfoot in its four-day-old war with Israel and that Tehran needed to quickly resort to diplomacy.
“Iran is not winning this war," Trump said at the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday. “They should talk — and they should do it immediately,” he warned.
Tehran had fallen afoul of a two-month deadline he had set for them making concessions on their nuclear program in talks, he added. “They had 60 days and on the 61st day we didn’t have a deal.”
Iran is now pushing for renewed negotiations, Trump said.
Asked what would prompt direct US military involvement, Trump refused to elaborate: “I don’t want to talk about that.”
But his support for Israel was unequivocal. “We’ve always supported Israel,” he said. “Israel is doing very well right now.”
The comments came as the war entered a dangerous new phase, with both sides stepping up deadly attacks and Israel targeting Iran's state broadcasting headquarters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News that assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
Despite the rhetoric, there are signs of diplomatic maneuvering. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran has conveyed to Arab intermediaries that it is willing to resume nuclear negotiations—on condition that the US does not join Israel in further strikes.
“Iran has told Arab officials they would be open to returning to the negotiating table as long as the US doesn’t join the attack,” the officials said, according to the newspaper.
Messages relayed to Israel warned “it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained.”
Iran, according to a Reuters report, has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to urge Trump to pressure Israel into a ceasefire, offering concessions on the nuclear file in return.
Israel's leadership had braced for around 5,000 civilian deaths in an all-out war with Iran but has found its foe unable to wreak serious damage, former senior intelligence officer Miri Eisin told Iran International.
Israel's leadership had braced for around 5,000 civilian deaths in an all-out war with Iran but has found its foe unable to wreak serious damage, former senior intelligence officer Miri Eisin told Iran International.
"If you put aside the human story, in general, life totally exists here, you can go out, there is food in the stores," said Eisin, a senior fellow at the International Institute for counter-terrorism and a retired colonel of the Israeli Defense Forces. Nobody is happy but the stress has not brought panic. That’s amazing in itself.”
Still, Iran’s retaliatory attacks are far heavier than the two last year when Iran first launched direct attacks on Israel, with missile payloads ranging from 500kg to a ton, says Eisin, who served as the first female Deputy Head of the Combat Intelligence Corps.
“We had estimated 5,000 deaths - we expected more barrages - and the risk of Hezbollah and the Houthis joining in simultaneously,” Eisin said, while as of Monday, the government cited just 24 fatalities.
“We do a guesstimate of what they can do based on worst case scenarios and expecting that the system is overwhelmed. You have to have the estimates as the hospital needs to be ready."
“Right now Iran has fired 370 missiles and 30 got through. If it hits urban areas you see the devastation there, but Israel continues to intercept more than 90% with its air defense systems which is amazing,"
The Israeli military on Monday said it had destroyed one third of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers.
Delayed response
Israel’s strategy to create havoc among Iran’s command and control personnel was key to Israel's strategy, she said, a move which takes 12-15 hours to recover from.
In the first wave of attacks on Friday morning, Israel killed the senior leaders of Iran's military and struck at air defenses, missile sites and two nuclear facilities.
“I was expecting an immediate Iranian response and the lack of that is because we took out all that hierarchy and it takes several hours to get that back, hence the response was only from around 9pm and onwards,” she said.
The attacks from Iran have predominantly hit civilian targets, all the 24 deaths so far in heavily populated urban centers. Rescue service Magen David Adom said that it has dealt with a total of 708 casualties as of Monday.
Eisin said that like in Syria, many of Iran’s military and nuclear sites are deep underground and buried in urban areas, meaning that in spite of Israel sending warnings, there will also be a human toll on the Iranian side.
Multiple neighborhoods of Tehran have seen an exodus since Friday after massive strikes across the capital and Iran's health ministry said 224 Iranians have been killed since Friday, and more than 1200 injured - 90% civilians.
Israel's campaign focused on it's nemesis's nuclear program, Eisin said, and the surprise attack aimed to pave the way for Iran to make concessions in a negotiated settlement.
“The end game here is nuclear and the diplomatic channels for that are already working,” she said.
Israel's military campaign against Iran is giving its people a chance to topple the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Iran International, adding that the ruling system's days were numbered.
"A light has been lit—carry it to freedom,” Netanyahu told Iran International's anchor Pouria Zeraati on Monday.
“This is the time,” he said. “Your hour of freedom is near—it’s happening now.”
