Iran acknowledged on Sunday that an Israeli strike on Tehran’s notorious Evin prison last week killed dozens of people.
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir posted on the office’s official Mizan news agency website that the strike killed at least 71 people, including staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families. Officials did not provide a breakdown of casualty figures.
The Washington-based Human Rights Activists in Iran said at least 35 of those killed were staff members and two were inmates. Others killed included a person walking in the prison vicinity and a woman who went to meet a judge about her imprisoned husband’s case, the organization said.
Jahangir said some of the injured were treated on site, while others were taken to hospitals. Iran has not said how many were injured.
Iran had also confirmed on Saturday that top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar had been killed in the attack. Ghanaatkar’s prosecution of dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, had led to widespread criticism by human rights groups.
Israel carried out the strike on June 23 as its Defense Ministry said it was attacking ‘regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran.’ The facility was known to hold many of Iran’s political prisoners and dissidents.
The prison attack came near the end of 12 days of Israeli strikes, which Israel claimed killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites.
The status of Iran’s nuclear program remains unclear, even after President Donald Trump said American strikes on June 22 ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ in an interview Sunday that Iran’s capacities remain, but it is impossible to assess the full damage to the nuclear program unless inspectors are allowed in, which Iranian officials have not authorized.
‘It is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage, first of all. And secondly, Iran has the capacities there, industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again,’ Grossi said.
Grossi said Iran could have centrifuges spinning enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months.’
‘Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,’ he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.