Vienna: The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday warned attacks near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant "pose a very real danger to nuclear safety and must stop".
Strikes near the operating plant "could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond," said Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on X.
He added that one recent strike hit just 75 metres (246 feet) from the plant's perimeter.
Tehran criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in strong terms on Monday for inaction after repeated US and Israeli attacks near Iran's sole nuclear power plant.
In a letter to Grossi, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami criticised him for failing to condemn the latest attack near the Bushehr nuclear power plant strongly enough.
This could encourage the "aggressors" to repeat these attacks, Eslami wrote, according to a report by the state-run news agency IRNA.
But this is the fourth time since Israel and the US began the war in late February that a projectile has struck near the nuclear power plant or its premises.
The facility is Iran's only nuclear power plant and is located about 760 km south of Tehran on The Gulf. Its Russian-designed reactor has been generating electricity since 2011. The Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom is currently building a second reactor unit.
Eslami said Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant had so far been targeted four times, with the most recent attack in its vicinity on April 4 killing a security staff member and injuring others.
He warned that such attacks could risk the release of radioactive material from an operating reactor and could have "irreparable consequences” for people, the environment and neighbouring countries.
He described the attacks as a clear breach of international law, and criticised what he called the agency’s "lack of decisive action", saying mere expressions of concern were insufficient and would embolden further attacks. — Agencies
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