Iranian state media reported April 7 that an overnight Israeli airstrike destroyed a historic synagogue in central Tehran. The Israeli military said hours later that it regretted collateral damage to a nearby synagogue during a targeted strike on a senior Iranian military commander.
The strike came hours before President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, conditional on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as negotiations continue.
According to The Times of Israel, Iran’s Shargh newspaper and semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that the Rafi Niya Synagogue located near Palestine Square in central Tehran was “completely destroyed” after a strike on an adjacent residential building. Footage circulated by Iranian outlets appeared to show Torah scrolls buried beneath rubble at the site, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it carried out the strike, saying it targeted a top commander within Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military emergency command.
“Reports were received that a nearby synagogue was also damaged in the strike,” the IDF said in a statement shared by the Times of Israel and The Wall Street Journal. “The IDF regrets the collateral damage to the synagogue and emphasizes that the strike was directed at a senior military target within the regime’s armed forces.”
The Israeli military added that it used “precise munitions and aerial surveillance” to “minimize the risk of harm to civilians” in the strike and said the incident remains under review.
According to the Times, an internal report from Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry said visual evidence from the scene showed rescuers working through debris, with religious books and interior fixtures scattered among the rubble. The report noted that “several sources, albeit all of them Iranian,” support claims that the synagogue was damaged.
An Israeli official told the outlet that Israel does target synagogues and “anyone claiming otherwise thinks you’re gullible.”
Iran’s official IRNA News Agency reported that “Israeli fighter jets” targeted the synagogue around 4 a.m. local time on April 7, destroying a “significant part” of the Jewish place of worship.
A few hours ago, the Jewish synagogue near Palestine Street in Tehran was targeted by Israeli fighter jets.
— IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) April 7, 2026
This synagogue, located near Palestine Square, is known as "Rafi Niya Synagogue," and a significant part of it has been destroyed as a result of the Israeli attack. pic.twitter.com/dBXApQ3omi
In a video published by Iran’s IRIB News and cited by the Post, Homayoun Sameh, a Jewish representative in Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, condemned the strike.
“The Zionist regime showed no mercy to this community during the Jewish holidays and targeted one of our ancient and holy synagogues,” Sameh was quoted as saying. “Unfortunately, during this attack, the synagogue building was completely destroyed, and Torah scrolls remain under the rubble.”
Rabbi Younes Hamami Lalehzar, a leading figure in Iran’s Jewish community, also called the strike an “inhuman and terrorist” act and rejected Israeli claims of protecting Jewish people in a statement shared by Iranian media. He is quoted as saying the “Israeli regime’s claims about defending Jews are nothing more than a shameful lie.”
Iran’s Jewish population is estimated at between 8,000 and 15,000, with most living in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz, according to the Times. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country’s Jewish population was about 100,000. Today, Iran has the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel, with roughly two dozen synagogues still believed to be in operation.