Israel issues evacuation warning to Iranians living near weapons production sites in Iran

By Eugenia Yosef and Nadeen Ebrahim, June 15: The Israeli military has issued an “urgent” evacuation warning to Iranians living near weapons production facilities, a possible sign that further strikes could be coming.

“For your safety, we ask you to please immediately evacuate the areas of these facilities and not to return until further notice,” Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in Farsi in a statement on X on Sunday. “Being in the vicinity of these areas endangers your life.”

He said the warning also extended to areas near “facilities that support weapons production in Iran.”

Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz confirmed the order, saying the IDF had begun issuing evacuation instructions to residents of Tehran living near weapons manufacturing facilities.

“The IDF will strike the sites and will continue peeling off the Iranian snake’s skin in Tehran and elsewhere from (its) nuclear capabilities and weapons arrays,” Katz said in a statement. “The Iranian dictator is turning Tehran into Beirut and the residents of Tehran into hostages, for the sake of his regime’s survival.”

An Israeli security official said Katz’s evacuation order for residents in Tehran “is a part of a plan which was approved in advance, to apply pressure on the (Iranian) regime through the evacuation of the population – in response to the firing at the Israeli home front.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a video address on Saturday that Israel will “strike every site and every target of the Ayatollah’s regime.” Iran has threatened to intensify its attacks if Israel continues hostilities.