Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced on Monday (April 6) that Israel has targeted the South Pars petrochemical complex located in the southwest energy hub of Asaluyeh in Iran. This marks a series of new strikes by Israel against Iran’s critical economic infrastructure.
In a post on the social media platform X, Katz wrote, “The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have just carried out a strong strike on Iran’s largest petrochemical facility. The estimated losses suffered by the Iranian regime are expected to reach billions of dollars.”
Katz emphasized that these facilities are “key assets responsible for about half of Iran’s petrochemical production.” According to Iran’s state-owned media Tasnim News Agency, the targets of the attack were the Jam and Damavand petrochemical facilities in Asaluyeh, which are vital components of Iran’s energy and export network.
Prior to the attack on Asaluyeh, Israeli forces had targeted petrochemical plants in the Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran last week. Katz stated that these two complexes accounted for approximately 85% of Iran’s petrochemical exports and are now inoperable.
He stressed that this was a “severe economic blow” aimed at cutting off Iran’s funding sources for military operations.
Iranian state media reported that Mobin and Damavand companies, which provide power, water, and oxygen to the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex, were hit in the attack, resulting in a power outage.
It is worth noting that there are conflicting reports about the entities responsible for carrying out this attack. According to Iran’s Defa Press, affiliated with the Ministry of Defense, American fighter jets were responsible for striking these two companies.
Katz stated that Israel will continue to target Iran’s national infrastructure in retaliation for Iran’s attacks on Israeli civilians.