Iconic Tehran high-rise collapses in flames, reportedly killing 30 firefighters


The 17-story Plasco building in central Tehran collapsed in flames on Thursday. Iran's state-run Press TV said 30 firefighters battling the blaze were killed and 75 others injured in the disaster. The fire broke out at about 8 a.m. local time, and everybody was evacuated before the building crumbled. Reports of deaths and injuries weren't uniform — a local TV station said 30 people were injured with the state-run INRA news agency put the number of those injured at 45. But the collapse was clearly sudden and swift, as captured live during an interview on state TV:
"It was like a horror movie," a grocery story owner told Reuters by phone. "The building collapsed in front of me."
The Plasco building, just south of Tehran's bazaar, was built in the early 1960s by an Iranian Jew, Habib Elghanian, who named it after his plastics business. It was the city's tallest building when it was completed. Elghanian was executed soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution after been tried on charges including espionage, The Associated Press reports, prompting an exodus of Iran's Jewish community.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Crossword: August 23, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year