Tehran IVF clinic devastated by US-Israeli attack as hospitals and homes hit

Mohsen and Firouzeh have been trying to have a child for years and recently turned to IVF, using a clinic at Tehran’s Ghandi hospital.

“The hospital staff worked so hard to help us,” Mohsen says. “After 10 years of trying, we finally had hope.”

But on Sunday, the second day of a devastating US-Israeli bombing campaign on Iran, a strike hit the prominent private hospital, reportedly causing “very serious damage” to its fertility clinic.

Mohammad Hassan Bani Asad, the head of Gandhi hospital, told local media that one staff member suffered serious wounds, including brain bleeding, and had to undergo surgery.

“Now, after hearing about the attack on the IVF section, we feel like we are losing our minds,” says Firouzeh.

“We don’t know what has happened. We don’t know what happened to our samples. We don’t know if all these years of effort and hope are gone.”

Like all Iranians Middle East Eye spoke to, Mohsen and Firouzeh are identified only by their first names for security reasons.

The United States and Israel say their attacks are targeting Iran’s leadership and military and nuclear infrastructure. Several senior officials have been killed so far, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Yet on the ground, Iranians are witnessing strikes wiping out homes and devastating hospitals and even a primary school, where around 150 girls aged between seven and 12 were killed.

Golestan Palace, a glittering Unesco World Heritage Site in Tehran, has also sustained damage.

According to the Red Crescent Society, at least 787 people have been killed so far, with attacks targeting more than 150 cities across the country.

Negin, who lives in the Shariati neighbourhood in Tehran, saw an air strike hit the nearby Army hospital.

She says it “exploded right in front of our eyes”.

“I saw things that I would never have believed if I hadn’t seen them myself,” she tells Middle East Eye.

Negin says she ran from the area in fear but believes that dozens of people were killed in the attack.

“Two streets above our home are the Joint Staff headquarters of the army and the Revolutionary Court. They hit that area,” she says. “But many residential homes on the same street were completely destroyed.”

Comparisons with Gaza

Mohammad Raiszadeh, the head of Iran’s Medical Council, said that the United States and Israel have struck at least 10 medical centres across the country.

Speaking to Iranian television, he drew parallels with the strikes on medical infrastructure in Iran and Israel’s relentless attacks on hospitals during its genocide in Gaza.

Raiszadeh said he expected little reaction from the UN’s World Health Organisation and other international bodies.

“They showed during the Gaza tragedy that they cannot stop attacks on hospitals and medical centres,” he says.

The strike on Gandhi hospital caused visible large damage and drew so much attention that the Israeli military issued a statement.

'In those terrible moments, we were just trying to save the babies'

- Salmaz, nurse

It said the hospital had suffered only “minor and collateral damage”. According to the statement, the intended target was military infrastructure located near the building.

But staff members at the hospital tell a different story.

Salmaz, a nurse at Gandhi hospital, tells MEE she was on duty when the explosion happened.

“We were working as usual when we suddenly heard a loud blast,” she says. “The force of it threw me into the corner of my office. The building caught fire. Everyone was screaming and trying to escape.”

In the middle of the chaos, Salmaz and her colleagues focused on moving newborn babies who were in the ward.

“In those terrible moments, we were just trying to save the babies,” she says. “I have never seen anything like this in my life. Only in movies.”

Salmaz is still in shock. “That terrible sound will not leave my ears,” she adds.

Neighbourhoods devastated

Residential buildings and offices have also been damaged in the strikes.

Mohammadali, 32, works at an advertising company on Motahari Street in central Tehran. He says the office where he worked was destroyed in an air strike.

A young colleague was seriously wounded in the attack and taken to the hospital. Her condition is critical.

“Israel keeps saying it only targets military sites,” he says. “Our company creates advertising content for small businesses. What does that have to do with the government or the Revolutionary Guard? They destroyed our office, and one of our colleagues is now fighting for her life.”

Niloufar Square in Tehran is another area that was badly damaged in Sunday night’s strikes.

Iranian drones cost a fraction of air defences. How long can Gulf states last?

Read More »

The neighbourhood is known for its restaurants and sandwich shops. On weekends, it is usually filled with young people who gather to eat and spend time together.

Now, residents say it is barely recognisable.

Reza, 42, who lives in the area, says the apparent target was the local police station near the square.

“But the reality is that many shops and homes were completely destroyed,” he says.

He considers himself lucky because his house isn’t particularly close to where the strike hit. Even so, the blast shook his entire home and blew out his windows.

“A house at the corner of our street was flattened,” he says. “You cannot imagine what I am saying. It was a five-storey building, with three or four apartments on each floor. I don’t know how many people were killed there.”

Across Tehran, fear and anxiety are now visible in daily life. Almost everyone speaks in a worried tone. Many say they never believed their city would face such heavy foreign attacks.

Negin says the scale of the current strikes cannot be compared to what they endured during the 12-day war in June, when Israel and the US last attacked Iran.

“The explosions do not stop,” she says. “Every moment I ask myself: will the next strike hit our home?”