Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz reportedly was struck during recent US and Israeli military operations, Tehran’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday, March 2.
“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful, safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday,” Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Reza Najafi, told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the agency’s 35-member Board of Governors, as per the Reuters report.
When asked which site had been hit, Najafi replied: “Natanz.”
The Natanz complex is Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility and has long been at the center of international concerns over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Najafi called on the IAEA to condemn the strikes and insisted Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons, calling such claims “completely false.”
The reported strike comes amid heightened tensions following coordinated US and Israeli operations targeting Iranian military infrastructure.
At the same time, Daniel Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, said there were currently no indications that any nuclear facilities had been damaged in the airstrikes, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor, or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
According to Iran International outlet, he urged restraint, warning that “armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the State which has been attacked.”
“Up to now, we have no indication that any of the nuclear installations… have been damaged or hit,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told an emergency Board of Governors meeting.
Grossi stressed the need to resume diplomacy.
“To achieve long-term assurance that Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons… we must return to negotiations,” he said.
In early February, satellite images showed work resuming at Iran’s nuclear facilities that had been damaged by US and Israeli strikes.
The images revealed new roofs on buildings at two key sites – Natanz and Isfahan – marking the first visible activity since hostilities ended in June.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the US launched a series of airstrikes on Iran. According to US President Donald Trump, the strikes were part of a military campaign to neutralize threats from the current Iranian regime.
Media reports indicate that Trump authorized the large-scale operation following extensive lobbying from Israel and Saudi Arabia, which resulted in the reported elimination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.