UN agency has called for ‘return to diplomacy’
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said satellite imagery shows recent damage to the entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz fuel enrichment plant, but it expects no radiological consequences and detected no additional impact to the main facility.
The agency said its assessment is based on the latest available satellite data, which confirmed damage to access structures at the Natanz site. The enrichment plant itself had already been severely damaged during the round of US strike in June 2025.
The IAEA said satellite imagery shows no new signs of impact on the main building and no radiological risk is expected as a result of the recent damage.
The IAEA continues to assess conditions remotely and report on any potential safety or safeguard implications because inspectors have no onsite access since June 2025.
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, told reporters outside an IAEA extraordinary meeting yesterday that the Natanz enrichment complex had been attacked, but gave no details.
According to Saudi-based Alarabiya, Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami has claimed two strikes were carried out on Natanz on Sunday (1 March) in a letter to the IAEA.
The agency has not provided details, but IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi said yesterday that efforts to contact Iran’s nuclear regulatory authorities through the IAEA’s emergency communication channels were continuing.
Grossi also called for a return to diplomacy, saying a negotiated solution is essential to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons and to preserve the global non-proliferation regime.
Iran has one commercial nuclear reactor unit in operation and a second under construction at Bushehr, about 1,000 km south of Tehran on the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s other main declared nuclear sites include enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, the conversion and fuel plants at Isfahan, the unfinished Arak heavy water reactor project, and Tehran’s research reactor complex.
