The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday that it had identified “direct impacts” on the underground enrichment halls at the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz after Israel targeted the facility with missiles last Friday.
The watchdog body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, initially said that the attack had destroyed the aboveground part of the fuel enrichment plant, including its electricity infrastructure, but its latest statement reflected an assessment of more significant damage.
It said that it issued its updated assessment on the basis of continued analysis of high resolution satellite imagery. The I.A.E.A. also said that there was still no evidence of damage at Iran’s nuclear plant near the city of Isfahan or at Fordo, a facility hidden in a mountain in the northwest of the country.
The extent to which Iran’s nuclear facilities were degraded was a critical issue in the assault that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel launched on Friday. Israel wants to force the government in Tehran to abandon its well-established nuclear program.
Mr. Netanyahu said last week that the nuclear program was an existential threat to his country, but Tehran maintains that it is solely for peaceful purposes and has given no hint that it would shut its atomic industry. Decades-long efforts to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons have yielded uneven results.
President Trump said on Monday that Iran wanted to make a deal over its nuclear program, and the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, signaled an openness to resuming talks with U.S. representatives about curtailing its nuclear development program. However, it remains unclear whether a diplomatic resolution is likely.
Iran has launched deadly waves of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s campaign, which has killed Iranian nuclear scientists as well as military commanders and civilians.
Last week, the I.A.E.A. said that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, the first time the agency had passed a resolution against the country in 20 years.
Iran has taken steps over the years to shield its nuclear industry from the possibility of Israeli attacks. The main site for uranium enrichment is at Natanz, which is roughly 140 miles south of Tehran. Other sites include Fordo; Isfahan; Parchin, a military complex southeast of Tehran where Iran has tested high explosives; and Bushehr, which is on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg is a London-based reporter on the Live team at The Times, which covers breaking and developing news.
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