Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday alleged that airstrikes by the United States and Israel targeted the Natanz enrichment facility in his country.
That contradicts an assessment by the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi who said that “up to now” the agency has “no indication” that nuclear facilities have been hit in Iran.
“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday. Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” Reza Najafi told reporters at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, where a special session of the Board of Governors is being held at the request of Russia.
When asked by a reporter which nuclear facility he was referring to, Najafi replied “Natanz.”
The Natanz site, some 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of the capital, is a mix of above- and below-ground laboratories that did the majority of Iran’s uranium enrichment.
Addressing the special session of the Board of Governors, IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said that “up to now” the International Atomic Energy Agency has “no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities” in Iran have been damaged or hit.
He added that the IAEA continues to try to contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities via the IAEA’s own Incident and Emergency Center “with no response so far,” given the limitations in communications caused by the conflict.
Grossi urged military restraint, warning that Iran and many other countries in the region that have been targeted militarily have “operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites, increasing the threat to nuclear safety.”
He added that so far “no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran.”
