Eight people were killed and 95 others wounded when US and Israeli forces struck the B1 bridge in Karaj, a city roughly 35 kilometers southwest of Tehran, according to Ghodratollah Seif, the deputy governor of Alborz province, citing state TV and Fars news agency.
Iranian state television reported that the attack came in two waves — the second strike hitting as emergency crews were already on the ground responding to casualties from the first.
The B1 bridge, still under construction at the time of the attack, stands as the tallest in the Middle East, with a central column reaching 136 meters, according to Iranian media.
Shortly after the strike, US President Donald Trump shared video footage of smoke rising from the structure on social media, claiming it had been destroyed beyond use. “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” he wrote, before directing a warning at Tehran: “IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pushed back sharply, writing on X that attacking civilian infrastructure would not force a capitulation. “It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray,” he said.
The strike comes days after Trump, in a prime-time national address on Wednesday, declared the conflict — launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28 — was nearing its end, while simultaneously threatening to bomb Iran “extremely hard” if it refused to comply with his terms. “Over the next two to three weeks, we are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” he told the nation.
AFP is unable to independently verify casualty figures or access strike sites due to reporting restrictions currently in place in Iran.
