Saadabad Palace is a large former royal complex in northern Tehran that includes an extensive park with separate buildings that have been turned into museums dedicated to the country's cultural history.

Photos and videos published by the IRNA and ISNA agencies showed debris, including shattered windows and pieces of ceiling, scattered across the floor of the Green Palace, one of the most visited pavilions.

It was built under the Pahlavi dynasty deposed in the 1979 revolution that led to the creation of the current Islamic republic.

At least two other buildings were damaged "by the shockwaves from the explosions", according to IRNA.

The Israeli army announced on Friday morning that it had carried out new strikes on infrastructure belonging to the Iranian authorities in Tehran.

The Saadabad Palace complex also houses residences of the Iranian president and the provincial governor, while facilities belonging to the Revolutionary Guards and the judiciary are located nearby.

The UN's cultural agency UNESCO told AFP earlier this week that four out of Iran's 29 World Heritage sites had been damaged during the ongoing war, which was sparked by US-Israeli attacks on February 28.

These include the Golestan Palace, a building in the historic heart of Tehran that was damaged by an explosion at the nearby Arag Square.

"It's an incredible palace with its decorated mirrors, its exceptional chandeliers, a place where a large part of Iran's history unfolded between the 16th and 19th centuries," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of UNESCO's World Heritage activities, told AFP this week.

According to AFP images, its windows were blown out and the floors of several rooms were strewn with debris from the countless mirrors, chandeliers and coloured glassware for which the palace is renowned.

The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan in the centre of the country has also been damaged, "with its incredible ceramics, its magnificent dome, which inspired the construction of mosques throughout the region", Eloundou Assomo added.

The Chehel Sotoun Palace, which is also in Isfahan and is known for its Persian garden, and the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley in the east have also been hit.

Saadabad Palace is not on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

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