Iran’s Natanz nuclear site suffered some damage, no radiological consequence expected: IAEA

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site sustained “some recent damage” amid a US-Israeli airstrike campaign, though there was “no radiological consequence expected” from it.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage was focused on “entrance buildings” to the underground portion of the atomic site.

Meanwhile The Natanz site, some 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of the capital, is a mix of above- and below-ground laboratories that did the majority of Iran’s uranium enrichment.

The main above-ground enrichment building at Natanz was known as the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant. Israel hit the building on June 13, leaving it “functionally destroyed,” and seriously damaging underground halls holding cascades of centrifuges, the IAEA’s director-general, Rafael Grossi, said at the time. A U.S. follow-up attack on June 22 hit Natanz’s underground facilities with bunker-busting bombs, likely decimating what remained.

13 Iranian troops killed in airstrike

Dubai: Airstrikes targeting an air base in southeastern Iran killed at least 13 Iranian troops there, local media reported.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency and the Hammihan daily newspaper reported the strike in Kerman, 800 kilometres (500 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

The Kerman Air Base is known to house military helicopters.

The incident raises concerns about escalating regional tensions.