BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 22. The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, confirmed today that Israel has struck Iran’s nuclear complex in Esfahan for the second time in just over a week, causing significant damage to multiple buildings within the facility, Trend reports, citing IAEA.
The Esfahan complex, a central hub of Iran’s nuclear programme, was initially targeted on June 13, when four buildings were damaged, including the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion facility, a reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and a facility under construction for enriched uranium metal processing. No rise in off-site radiation levels was reported at the time.
According to the IAEA’s latest assessment, six additional buildings at the same site have now been hit. These include a natural and depleted uranium metal production facility (not yet operational), a fuel rod production facility, a low-enriched uranium pellet production unit, two laboratory buildings, a workshop dealing with contaminated equipment, and an administrative office.
The IAEA also confirmed that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at the Esfahan site had been among the targets of today's attacks.
Grossi noted that the facilities struck either contained no nuclear material or only small amounts of natural or low-enriched uranium, and therefore any potential radioactive contamination remains confined to the damaged or destroyed structures.
“This nuclear complex in Esfahan – one of the key sites of the Iranian nuclear programme – has repeatedly been attacked and extensively damaged. Based on our analysis of the nuclear material present, we don’t see any risk of off-site contamination. Nevertheless, as I have repeatedly stated, nuclear facilities should never be attacked,” Grossi emphasized.