VIENNA: The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Monday his agency has "no indication" that any nuclear installations have been damaged or hit in Iran following US and Israeli strikes on the country. Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi said however that the key nuclear site Natanz had been attacked.
Opening an extraordinary session of the agency's board of governors on Iran, IAEA head Rafael Grossi urged "all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation". "Regarding the status of the nuclear installations in Iran, up to now, we have no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been damaged or hit," he said.
The agency was trying to contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities "with no response so far", Grossi said in his statement, released by the IAEA, as he opened the session. "We hope this indispensable channel of communication can be re-established as soon as possible," he added. Najafi said the Natanz nuclear site had been attacked, saying the United States accusing Iran of trying to have a nuclear bomb was "just the pretext to attack and invade". "The head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran yesterday sent a letter to the Director General and informed him that the Natanz nuclear facilities, which is a safeguarded facility, have been attacked during this aggression," he said.
Grossi in his opening statement said that the situation in the Middle East was "very concerning" after the Israeli-US strikes on Iran and its retaliatory missile attacks. "Iran and many other countries in the region that have been subjected to military attacks have operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites, increasing the threat to nuclear safety," he added. Grossi called for diplomatic negotiations to resume "as quickly as possible". — AFP
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