UN watchdog chief rebuts Iran diplomat over Natanz nuclear site targeting allegations

The United Nations top nuclear watchdog on Monday rebutted allegations by an Iranian diplomat that U.S. and Israeli strikes have targeted the Natanz nuclear facility in the country. 

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters that the agency had not seen major military activity targeting nuclear facilities, getting information from a range of satellite imagery. 

Grossi made the statement in response to a question about an allegation by Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Reza Najafi that American and Israeli strikes against the country had targeted its Natanz facility. 

“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday. Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” Najafi told reporters, according to The Associated Press. 

Grossi said he stood by his earlier statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Monday in which he said that there is “no indication that any of the nuclear installations… have been damaged or hit.” 

“We haven’t seen major military activity targeting the nuclear facilities,” Grossi told reporters. 

Grossi also said that they have not been able to contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities, but said it could be related to interruption of internet services in the country. 

“We don’t know, we haven’t been able to reach out to them or for them to respond to the calls from our incident and emergency center, the IEC.” 

Grossi said no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran, and that the regional safety monitoring network has been put on alert and is liaising with the IAEA “continuously.” 

U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran have entered their third day, a major military escalation that has engulfed the region, with Gulf-Arab countries hosting U.S. troops coming under attack, European partners offering defensive strikes and major disruptions to the global oil trade and international travel. 

The U.S. and Israeli strikes have so far decapitated much of senior Iranian leadership, including Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

President Trump has given a wide range of reasons for the decision to launch the strikes, citing the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history of military and nuclear threats. The U.S. had engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program in the days preceding the attack but Trump said he was “not happy” with the direction of the talks to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon. 

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