Pakistan, March 9 -- Residents of Tehran woke up to an unusually dark morning on Sunday as thick black smoke from burning oil depots covered the sky across the Iranian capital. The smoke followed Israeli air strikes targeting fuel storage facilities in and around the city during the ongoing regional conflict. With sunlight blocked by the heavy smoke clouds, many residents initially believed it was still nighttime. People across the city switched on lights inside homes and vehicles to navigate through the unexpected darkness.

The massive smoke clouds drifted across Tehran, a sprawling metropolis normally home to more than 10 million residents. Even by mid-morning, vehicles driving along Valiasr Street, one of the city's main north-south ...