Iran’s two largest steel mills have announced that they have been forced to shut down as a result of strikes launched by Israel and the US.
The Khuzistan Steel Company, located in southwestern Iran, and the Mobarakeh Steel Company, in Isfahan province, in the center of the country, have been repeatedly attacked since last week.
“All sections and steel production furnaces of this industrial complex were damaged,” said Mehran Pakbin, deputy director of operations of the Khuzistan Steel Company, as reported by the online website Mizan Online.
“According to our initial estimates, the resumption of operation of these units will take at least six months and up to a year,”
The Mombarakeh Steel Works said last night that “production lines have been completely stopped due to the intensity of the attacks. “Continued operation is impossible,” the company clarified in a statement posted on its website.
In retaliation, the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, said they launched missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) strikes on industrial zones in the Middle East and Israel.
They also threatened to unleash additional retaliation in case of new similar attacks.
A strategic material, steel is used in military and industrial production to build missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and ships.
Iran has been at war with the US and Israel since February 28, when strikes killed the country’s supreme leader and sparked a conflict that has since spread across the region.
