UN says two Iran nuclear sites destroyed in Israel strikes

UN says two Iran nuclear sites destroyed in Israel strikes
By Sebastien Ricci and Ramin Khanizadeh with Alice Chancellor in Jerusalem
Tehran (AFP) June 18, 2025

The UN nuclear watchdog said Israeli strikes on Wednesday destroyed two buildings making centrifuge components for Iran's nuclear programme near Tehran, while Iran said it fired hypersonic missiles as the arch foes traded fire for a sixth day.

Hours after US President Donald Trump demanded Iran's surrender, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed his country would show "no mercy" towards Israel's leadership.

Khamenei, in power since 1989 and the final arbiter of all matters of state in Iran, was to deliver a televised speech Wednesday.

Trump insists the United States has played no part in ally Israel's bombing campaign, but also warned his patience was wearing thin.

The long-range blitz began Friday, when Israel launched a massive bombing campaign that prompted Iran to respond with missiles and drones.

After the Israeli military issued a warning for civilians to leave one district of Tehran for their safety, Israeli warplanes hit the capital early Wednesday.

"More than 50 Israeli Air Force fighter jets... carried out a series of air strikes in the Tehran area over the past few hours," the Israeli military said, adding that several weapons manufacturing facilities were hit.

"As part of the broad effort to disrupt Iran's nuclear weapons development programme, a centrifuge production facility in Tehran was targeted."

Centrifuges are vital for uranium enrichment, the sensitive process that can produce fuel for reactors or, in highly extended form, the core of a nuclear warhead.

The strikes destroyed two buildings making centrifuge components for Iran's nuclear programme in Karaj, a satellite city of Tehran, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.

In another strike on a site in Tehran, "one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested", the agency added in a post on X.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles at Tel Aviv.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

No missile struck Tel Aviv overnight, despite Iran's claims that its attacks were "repeatedly shaking the shelters", though AFP photos showed Israel's air defence systems activated to intercept missiles over the commercial hub.

Iran also sent a "swarm of drones" towards Israel, while the Israeli military said it had intercepted a total of 10 drones launched from Iran.

It said one of its own drones had been shot down over Iran.

- 'Unconditional surrender' -

Trump fuelled speculation about US intervention when he made a hasty exit from the G7 summit in Canada, where the leaders of the club of wealthy democracies called for de-escalation but backed Israel's "right to defend itself".

Back in Washington on Tuesday, Trump demanded the Islamic republic's "unconditional surrender".

He also boasted that the United States could easily assassinate Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there -- We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump met with his National Security Council to discuss the conflict. There was no immediate public statement after the hour and 20 minute meeting.

US officials stressed Trump has not yet made a decision about any intervention.

Hours later, Khamenei responded with a post on X, saying: "We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy."

- Evacuations -

Israel's attacks have hit nuclear and military facilities around Iran, as well as residential areas.

Residential areas in Israel have also been hit, and foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from both countries.

Since Friday, at least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds wounded, according to Netanyahu's office.

Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not issued an updated toll since then.

More than 700 foreigners living in Iran have crossed into neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia since Israel launched its campaign, according to government figures.

On Tuesday in Tehran, long queues stretched outside bakeries and petrol stations as people rushed to stock up on fuel and basic supplies.

Iran's ISNA and Tasnim news agencies on Wednesday reported that five suspected agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had been detained, on charges of tarnishing the country's image online.

With air raid sirens regularly blaring in Tel Aviv, some people relocated to an underground parking lot below a shopping mall.

"We've decided to permanently set camp here until it's all clear, I guess," Mali Papirany, 30, told AFP.

- Nuclear facilities -

After a prolonged shadow war, Israel said its surprise air campaign was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons -- an ambition Tehran denies.

The UN nuclear watchdog said there appeared to have been "direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls" at Iran's Natanz facility.

Israel has maintained ambiguity regarding its own atomic activities, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says it has 90 nuclear warheads.

The conflict derailed a running series of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, with Iran saying after the start of Israel's campaign that it would not negotiate with the United States while under attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump had a critical role to play in restarting diplomacy with Iran, where any attempts at "regime change" would bring "chaos".

How much damage has Israel inflicted on Iran's nuclear programme?
Vienna (AFP) June 17, 2025 - Israel's strikes on Iran have targeted several of its nuclear facilities as it claims the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons -- an accusation Tehran denies.

Experts told AFP that while the attacks had caused some damage to Iran's nuclear programme, they are unlikely to have delivered a fatal blow.

Here is an update on Iran's nuclear sites as of Tuesday.

- What is the extent of the damage? -

Israel's operation included strikes on Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, and on its Isfahan nuclear site, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, citing Iranian officials.

A key, above-ground component of Iran's Natanz nuclear site has been destroyed, including its power infrastructure, the IAEA reported Monday.

The UN watchdog added Tuesday that satellite images indicated possible "direct impacts" on the underground section of the plant, where thousands of centrifuges are operating to enrich uranium.

At the underground Fordow enrichment plant, Iran's second uranium enrichment facility, the IAEA said it observed "no damage" following the attacks.

At the Isfahan nuclear site, however, "four buildings were damaged" -- the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and a metal processing facility under construction, the IAEA said.

Significant uranium stockpiles are believed to be stored around the Isfahan site.

Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's Iran project director, told AFP that if Iran managed to transfer significant quantities to "secret facilities," then "the game is lost for Israel".

Iran's only nuclear power plant, the Bushehr plant, was not targeted, nor was the Tehran research reactor.

- Can the programme be destroyed? -

While "Israel can damage Iran's nuclear programme... it is unlikely to be able to destroy it," Vaez said, saying that Israel did not have the massively powerful bombs needed "to destroy the fortified, bunkered facilities in Natanz and Fordow".

Destroying those would require US military assistance, added Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association.

She also noted that Israel's unprecedented attack would not erase the expertise Iran had built up on nuclear weapons, despite killing nine Iranian nuclear scientists.

- What are the risks to the Iranian population? -

The IAEA has not detected any increase in radiation levels at the affected sites.

"There is very little risk that attacks on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities would result in a harmful radiation release," Davenport said.

But an attack on the Bushehr plant could "have a serious impact on health and the environment", she said.

After Israel launched its strikes, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that nuclear facilities "must never be attacked" and that targeting Iranian sites could have "grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond".

- Is Iran close to developing a nuclear bomb? -

After the United States under President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a landmark deal that sought to curb Tehran's nuclear activities, Iran has gradually retreated from some of its obligations, particularly on uranium enrichment.

As of mid-May, the country had an estimated 408.6 kilogrammes (900 pounds) enriched to up to 60 percent -- just a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran theoretically has enough near-weapons-grade material, if further refined, for about 10 nuclear bombs, according to the definition by the Vienna-based IAEA.

Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed state producing uranium to this level of enrichment, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.

- How much damage has Israel inflicted on Iran's nuclear programme? -

While the IAEA has been critical of Iran's lack of cooperation with the UN body, it says there are "no credible indications of an ongoing, undeclared structured nuclear programme".

Tehran has consistently denied ambitions to develop nuclear warheads.

But Davenport warned that the strikes could strengthen factions in Iran advocating for an atomic arsenal.

"Israel's strikes set Iran back technically, but politically the strikes are pushing Iran closer to nuclear weapons," she said.