IAEA detects fresh damage to Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Tuesday that it had identified via satellite imagery “recent damage” to the entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP).

“No radiological consequence expected and no additional impact detected at FEP itself, which was severely damaged in the June conflict,” the nuclear watchdog wrote on X.

The announcement comes on the backdrop of remarks made by the agency’s head Rafael Grossi the previous day that there was “no indication” that Iranian nuclear sites had been damaged since the start of the conflict.

Grossi told the body’s Board of Governors during an emergency meeting in Vienna that while efforts to contact Iranian nuclear authorities continue, his organization has received “no response so far.”

He went on to say that “so far, no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran.”

In the wake of the war’s commencement on Feb. 28, the IAEA said it could verify whether Iran suspended uranium enrichment following strikes on its nuclear facilities during last June’s 12-day war with Israel and the United States.

In a confidential report circulated to member states and seen by the Associated Press, the nuclear watchdog said Tehran had denied inspectors access to facilities that were hit in the fighting.

Iran maintains four declared enrichment facilities; the IAEA warned that the continued lack of monitoring means it cannot provide information on the “size, composition or whereabouts” of the material. The report added that the “loss of continuity of knowledge … needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency.”