The Israeli military on Tuesday issued an urgent warning to Iranian civilians to stay off trains and away from railway lines across the country, in what analysts say could signal an imminent strike on Iran's rail network.
The Israel Defense Forces' Farsi-language account on X posted the warning Tuesday morning, telling Iranians to "refrain from using and travelling by train throughout Iran" until 9 p.m. local time.
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The post, written in Persian, read: "Urgent Warning to Users and Train Passengers in the Country of Iran. Dear Citizens, for the sake of your security, we kindly request that from this moment until 21:00 Iran time, you refrain from using and travelling by train throughout Iran."
"Your presence on trains and near railway lines endangers your life," it added.
The Israeli army set the deadline for at least 9 p.m. local time, which is 17:30 GMT.
Israel has previously issued similar civilian alerts before carrying out strikes on specific infrastructure inside Iran, a tactic that allows it to signal military intent while attempting to reduce civilian casualties.
The IDF has not explicitly stated what action it plans to take, but the specificity of the warning, directed at rail users, strongly suggests Iran's railway network is a target.
The warning comes as the Israel-Iran conflict has intensified sharply in recent days. Israeli strikes have already hit major Iranian infrastructure, including what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described as Iran's largest petrochemical facility.
In fresh warnings, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said recent airstrikes that occurred dangerously close to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, with one strike reportedly landing just 75 metres from the facility's perimeter fence, pose a "very real danger" of a radiological accident.
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Iran's railway system is a significant national asset. The state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railways network carries around 29 million passengers annually, accounting for roughly 11% of all transportation in the country.
There was no immediate response from Iranian authorities to the IDF's warning.
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