TEHRAN – Iran is preparing to respond to U.S.-Israeli strikes on two of its largest steel companies, which killed at least one worker and injured several others on Friday.

In the afternoon, parts of the Mobarakeh steel factory in central Esfahan province and the Khuzestan Steel Industries Company in southern Iran were hit by U.S.-Israeli projectiles. Workers were present at both sites at the time of the attacks. Emergency services were quickly dispatched, and the number of casualties is expected to rise. The two regimes also struck a heavy water research reactor facility in central Khondab and a yellowcake production plant in Yazd on the same day.

Shortly after the latest wave of aggression, the Public Relations Department of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a stern warning to American industrial companies and heavy industries affiliated with Israel operating in the region, ordering them to evacuate their workplaces immediately.

In a statement, the IRGC announced that retaliatory operations were underway following the multiple attacks on Iranian industrial centers. The statement emphasized that these strikes came despite previous warnings against targeting Iran’s industrial infrastructure.

The IRGC warned “all employees working for companies with American shareholders, as well as heavy industries allied with the Zionist regime, to vacate their work sites without delay to ensure their safety.”

The warning also extended to residents living within a one-kilometer radius of such industrial facilities, urging them to leave their homes until the retaliatory strikes were concluded.

This marks a significant escalation in the war. The U.S. and Israel have framed their campaign as an effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but since the war began on February 28, they have been targeting the country’s industries, energy infrastructure, and residential buildings.

The last time the two regimes struck something of strategic importance, Iran responded with heavy attacks on U.S. and Israeli-linked sites in the region. In mid-March, Iran’s largest gas field, South Pars in Asaluyeh, was struck and damaged. Iran responded by launching missile and drone strikes targeting energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf region, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex; Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura and Samref refineries and Jubail Petrochemical Complex; the UAE’s Ruwais and Al Hosn gas facilities; Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries; and Bahrain’s Bapco refinery.

The U.S. and Israel had previously considered targeting Iran’s power plants but backed away after Iran warned it would plunge the entire region into darkness in retaliation.

An account on X believed to belong to the Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, said after the attacks on Iran’s steel companies that the country would not reciprocate in kind this time.

“This time, the equation will no longer be an eye for an eye,” he wrote on X. “You tested us once before; the world saw again that you were the ones who started playing with fire and attacking infrastructure.”

Nima Akbarkhani, a military affairs analyst, believes that by targeting Iran’s infrastructure, Israel and the U.S. have started a game they cannot finish. “Iran is a massive country. Its infrastructure and industries are abundant and decentralized. That is not the case for Israel, or any of the Persian Gulf states that are helping the two regimes in their attacks against Iran. So, they stand to lose more from such targeting,” he said on IRIB.