Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society work at the site of a US-Israeli strike near a mosque in Zanjan, Iran [Iranian Red Crescent Society/Handout via Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff and AFPPublished On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
Israeli-US strikes have hit one of Iran’s largest pharmaceutical companies in Tehran, which produces anaesthetics and cancer drugs, the Iranian government said.
Separate attacks were reported on Tuesday at a Shia religious site in the northwestern city of Zanjan, local media said.
“During the US and Zionist regime attacks on civilian centres, on the morning of Tuesday, one of the largest companies producing anti-cancer, anaesthetic and specialised medicines was damaged and the drug production line was damaged,” the Iranian government said in a post on X.
The company was identified as Tofigh Daru Research and Engineering Company, which is owned by the Social Security Investment Company, a state-run holding firm. On LinkedIn, Tofigh Daru says it develops and produces active pharmaceutical ingredients “in the anticancer, narcotics, cardiovascular to immunomodulatory segments”.
Iran’s former foreign minister and founder of the Payab Research Institute, Javad Zarif, said on X that Tofigh Daru was targeted by “desperate aggressors” who “failed to realize their diabolical delusions” and “deliberately” struck a medical production facility.
Elsewhere, Iranian Red Crescent teams said rescue operations retrieved two people buried under the rubble after a US-Israeli air strike hit Zanjan’s Husseiniya Azam, a Shia congregation hall next to a mosque.
One person was killed, and eight were injured in Iran’s western Kermanshah province, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency, after US-Israeli strikes targeted workers at a civilian contracting company in the city of Qasr-e Shirin, on the border with Iraq.
Heavy bombing was also reported in Isfahan, which is a key hub for Iran’s defence industry and has major nuclear facilities, including Natanz. The province is home to several major military bases, including the Badr Airbase, the 8th Shekari Airbase and the 4th Air Force Base.
The Fars news agency quoted Akbar Salehi, a security official at the governor’s office in the province, as saying that an initial investigation indicated that strikes targeted some “military sites” without specifying the locations.
The official also said the extent of the damage and any casualties were not immediately clear.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranians have taken to the streets in a pro-state demonstration to express their anger over the continuation of US-Israeli attacks.
Negotiations for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict stalled after US President Donald Trump presented a 15-point plan that Tehran described as “extremely maximalist and unreasonable”.
“There is a cloud of mistrust on Iran’s side,” Asadi said. “Twice over the past 10 months, Iran engaged in a trajectory of diplomacy, when all of a sudden it faced a campaign of air attacks by the US and Israel.”
At least 1,937 have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli joint attack began on February 28, while 20 people were killed in Israel.
Several impact sites were reported on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, as well as Bnei Brak and Petah Tikva, in central Israel.
Israeli forces have been intercepting most missiles with the Iron Dome and the David’s Sling, designed to shoot down cruise missiles.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a statement carried by IRNA to have struck an Israeli container ship with a ballistic missile in the Gulf, while Iranian drones also targeted a group of US marines on the UAE coast outside a military base, the statement said.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said communication between Tehran and Washington was ongoing, mostly through intermediaries, and that US war objectives would be achieved in “weeks, not months”.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said talks on ending the Iran war are making progress.
“They are very real. They are ongoing, they are active, and I think, gaining strength,” Hegseth said of the negotiations.
