ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Continued military activity near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in southwestern Iran risks triggering a “severe radiological accident” with potentially harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond, the UN nuclear watchdog warned, after four strikes were recorded near or at the site since the onset of the Middle East war.
In a statement on X, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday that, “based on its independent analysis of new satellite imagery and detailed knowledge of the site,” it can confirm “recent impacts of military strikes” near the BNPP, “including one just 75 meters from the site’s perimeter,” while adding that the plant itself “has not been damaged.”
It quoted IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi as warning that “continued military activity near the BNPP - an operating plant with large amounts of nuclear fuel - could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond.”
Grossi further cautioned that “such attacks pose a very real danger to nuclear safety and must stop,” while reiterating his call for “all parties [to the ongoing conflict] to fully respect the seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during a conflict.”
“A nuclear facility and its surrounding areas should never be struck,” Grossi urged.
The US and Israel launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran on February 28, with the US Central Command reporting on Tuesday that its forces had struck more than 13,000 targets across Iran and “damaged or destroyed” over 155 Iranian vessels. The strikes have focused on locations deemed to “pose an imminent threat.”
In response, Tehran has carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - while also launching retaliatory attacks against Israel. Iran’s response has further involved armed groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ which have conducted attacks on purported US targets throughout the region as well.
Since the onset of the war in late February, the BNPP has been targeted in four separate strikes, according to reports from the IAEA and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), with attacks largely targeting the plant's auxiliary infrastructure rather than the main reactor units.
The first strike was recorded in mid-March, followed by a second occurred on March 18, when a projectile destroyed a structure approximately 350 meters from the reactor. A third strike was reported on March 27, with a projectile hitting the plant’s premises; Iranian authorities stated that no significant technical or human damage resulted.
However, the IAEA reported a fourth strike took place on Saturday. Citing Iranian authorities, the agency stated that “a projectile struck close to the premises” of the BNPP. It added that “one of the site’s physical protection staff members was killed by a projectile fragment,” and that “a building on site was affected by shockwaves and fragments.”
While the UN nuclear watchdog noted that “no increase in radiation levels was reported,” it cited the IAEA Director General Grossi as expressing “deep concern about the reported incident” and reiterating his call for “maximum military restraint to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.”
Against the backdrop of the latest strike on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that the US and Israel “have bombed our Bushehr plant four times now,” warning that “radioactive fallout will end life in [Gulf Cooperation Council] GCC [states’] capitals, not Tehran.”
He added that “attacks on our petrochemicals also convey real objectives.”
Notably, the Iranian foreign minister on Monday held a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, during which both ministers stressed “the importance of immediately ceasing the reckless and illegal attacks on civilian, industrial, and energy infrastructure, including the Bushehr NPP, which operates under IAEA safeguards,” according to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry.
The statement further emphasized that “it is unacceptable to create threats to the lives and health of the power plant’s workers, or to risk a radioactive disaster for the entire region.” Lavrov, on behalf of Russia, also expressed hope that efforts would be made toward de-escalation and achieving “a lasting and sustainable normalization of the situation in the Middle East.”
The call came as Moscow’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, on Saturday evacuated an additional 198 staff members from the BNPP. Reuters, citing Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev, reported that developments near the plant were unfolding in line with a worst-case scenario.