ISTANBUL, Turkiye: More than 2,000 points in Iran’s electricity infrastructure were targeted during recent United States (US)-Israeli attacks, a senior Iranian official said Wednesday, Anadolu Ajansi reported, citing local media.
Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, said 12 employees in the power sector were killed during the strikes, adding that the attacks aimed to disrupt critical infrastructure.
“Attacking electricity infrastructure is an attack on the people,” he added in his comments carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Despite the scale of the damage, he said power outages were restored in less than an hour in most cases.
Rajabi Mashhadi added that around 150,000 people work in Iran’s electricity sector, including 30,000 who are on duty around the clock to maintain operations.
Separately, Aladdin Rafizadeh, head of Iran’s Administrative and Recruitment Affairs Organisation, said 68 administrative personnel were killed while on duty during the recent war, according to the state news agency IRNA.
The remarks come after US President Donald Trump previously warned that if no deal was reached, he would target Iran’s infrastructure, including power plants and bridges.
Regional tensions escalated after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran on US assets and bases across the Middle East.
A two-week ceasefire was announced on April 8, followed by rare direct talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad on April 11-12, which ended without an agreement.
The ceasefire was later extended as diplomatic efforts continue, though tensions remain high. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
