No further damage seen at Iran sites, nuclear watchdog says

The chief of the global nuclear guard dog indicates that there has been no additional damage to the Iranium Uranium Urannium enrichment factory since Israel hit the country’s nuclear sites on Friday.

Rafael Grossi told the Board of Directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that an above-ground enrichment establishment in Natanz was destroyed, but that there was no sign of physical attack in the underground installation there.

Four buildings were also damaged on the Isfahan site, he said, including a uranium conversion plant, and no damage was visible in the underground enrichment plant.

Israel said that he had attacked the sites and killed nine nuclear scientists to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

He allegedly alleged that Iran had “taken measures in recent months to arm” its enriched uranium stock, which can be used to make fuel for power plants but also nuclear bombs.

Iran reiterated that its nuclear program was peaceful on Sunday and urged the IAEA board of directors to 35 countries to strongly condemn Israeli strikes.

Grosi informed the board of directors on Monday that the IAEA had monitored the situation in Iran in Iran, determining the status of the country’s nuclear installations and assessing the levels of radiation by communication with local authorities.

He declared that Friday’s attack on Natanz had destroyed the part above the ground of the pilot fuel enrichment (PFEP), where centrifuge cascades produced uranium enriched up to 60%

Natanz’s electrical infrastructure, which included an electrical substation, a food building and emergency generators, were also destroyed.

“There was no indication of a physical attack on the underground cascade room containing part of the PFEP and the main fuel enrichment plant. However, the loss of power in the cascade room may have damaged the centrifugal there,” added fat.

He also said that there was radiological and chemical contamination on the site, but that the level of radioactivity outside had remained unchanged and at normal levels.

The Israeli army said on Friday that the underground centrifuge room had also been damaged as part of the attack on Natanz, but it provided no evidence.

The head of the IAEA said that four buildings were damaged on Friday during a separate attack on the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center – the Central Chemical Laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the fuel manufacturing plant from the teheran reactor and an installation to convert Uranium Hexafluoride Metal Uranium, which was under construction.

As in Natanz, the off-site radiation levels remain unchanged, he added.

The Israeli army said on Friday that the Isfahan strike “had dismantled an installation to produce metallic uranium, infrastructure to convert enriched uranium, laboratories and additional infrastructure”.

On Saturday, the semi-official news agency of Iran Iran quoted the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) saying that there were “damage limited to certain areas on the Fordo enrichment site” following an Israeli attack.

However, the Israeli army has not confirmed to make strikes.

Grossi said that no damage had been observed in Fordo, or to the Khondab heavy water reactor, which is under construction.

He urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, warning that military climbing has threatened lives and increased the chances of radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment.

The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Saturday that the attacks of Israel against the nuclear installations of his country were a “blatant violation of international law” and that he hoped that the board of directors of the IAEA issued a strong conviction.

He also said that Iranian missile strikes on Israel since Friday were a “response to assault”.

Israeli army spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin said on Monday that his large-scale air campaign “would continue to act in pursuing the objective of the operation, to neutralize the existential threat of Iran, from his nuclear project to the regime’s missile network.”

The Iranian Ministry of Health says that Israeli strikes have killed more than 220 people since Friday. Twenty-four Israelis were killed by Iranian missiles, according to Israeli authorities.

Last Thursday, the IAEA board of directors declared Iran in violation of its non-proliferation obligations For the first time in 20 years. A resolution said that Iran’s “many failures” to provide the agency with complete responses to its nuclear matters and unconceived nuclear activities constituted non-compliance.

By virtue of a 2015 nuclear agreement with the global powers, Iran was not authorized to enrich uranium greater than 3.67% – the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants – and has not been authorized to enrich Fordo for 15 years.

However, US President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement during his first mandate in 2018, saying that he had too little to stop a way to a bomb and restored American sanctions.

Iran retaliated by increasingly breaking the restrictions – in particular those relating to enrichment. He resumed the enrichment in Fordo in 2021 and amassed enough uranium enriched 60% to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the AIEA.