US-Israeli airstrikes targeted Natanz enrichment facility, says Iran's nuclear ambassador

Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday, 2 March, alleged that airstrikes by the United States and Israel targeted the Natanz enrichment facility in his country.

That contradicts an assessment by the UN 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 km (135 miles) south of Tehran, is a mix of above- and below-ground laboratories that did the majority of Iran's uranium enrichment.

Before the war, the IAEA said Iran used advanced centrifuges there to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent—a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent. Some of the material is presumed to have been onsite when the entire complex was attacked last June.

The main above-ground enrichment building at Natanz was known as the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. Israel hit the building on 13 June last year leaving it “functionally destroyed,” and seriously damaging underground halls holding cascades of centrifuges, the IAEA's director-general, Rafael Grossi, said at the time.

A US follow-up attack on 22 June hit Natanz's underground facilities with bunker-busting bombs, likely decimating what remained.

The IAEA however maintains that “up to now” no nuclear installations have been hit in Iran.

The conflict has intensified, with Iranian and Iranian-backed militias firing missiles at Israel and Arab states, including an apparent strike on the US Embassy compound in Kuwait. In response, Israel and the US have conducted airstrikes inside Iran’s territory.

According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, at least 555 people have died in Iran due to the US-Israeli campaign, with more than 130 cities hit across the country. Israeli authorities have reported 11 fatalities on their side.

In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia took responsibility for a drone attack targeting US forces at Baghdad airport, following an earlier attack on a US base in Irbil. Additionally, Cyprus reported a drone strike targeting a British base on the island.