No accident at Fordow; superficial damage at Natanz during Israeli aggression: Nuclear agency

Iran’s nuclear agency says there “have been no accidents” at the Fordow uranium enrichment facility in the country’s north, adding that the Islamic Republic’s main enrichment site in the central city of Natanz has suffered only “superficial damage” as a result of the assault.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)’s spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, made the remarks on Friday after the country came under a series of Israeli attacks.

“I was in Fordow and spoke with colleagues. No incident occurred there,” he said.

“Mr. [Mohammad] Eslami was in Natanz, where an incident took place at the surface level,” he added, referring to the AEOI’s chief, and noting that “most of the damage [resulting from the aggression] is superficial.”

‘No leakage outside Natanz’

Kamalvandi, meanwhile, reported that there had been “contamination, whether chemical or radiological, inside the site” as a result of the assault, but no hazardous materials had leaked outside.

“There is no cause for concern beyond the site, though internal cleanup will be necessary,” the official said.

The comments came after a string of assaults that featured targeted killing strikes led to the martyrdom of a number of senior Iranian military figures, nuclear scientists, and citizens.

‘IAEA ignored threats facing Iran’s nuclear site’

Kamalvandi regretted that the Islamic Republic had, prior to the strikes, written to Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warning him about the threats that were posed to the country’s nuclear sites by the Israeli regime.

“We had repeatedly written letters to the director-general of the agency, but they went unanswered. As someone with responsibility, the director-general should have paid attention to the threats, but he did not.”

The spokesman also noted how Grossi had even once “justified” the threats instead of condemning them during an interview.

The Islamic Republic’s notifying the IAEA about the sources of menace came as part of the country’s years-long efforts to call for international organizations to get involved in this matter and “treat it as an international threat,” Kamalvandi stated.

In such a context, the Israeli attack on Natanz amounts to a setback for the United Nations nuclear watchdog due to the unjustifiable failure of its director to play a professional and impartial role, including in ensuring the security of the peaceful nuclear facilities under the agency's supervision.

‘IAEA silence amounts to collaboration with Israel’

Kamalvandi also lamented the IAEA chief’s refusal to take any action even in the aftermath of the assault.

Iran’s nuclear agency, he said, "considers the IAEA silence to be a form of collaboration with the Zionist regime.”

"It believes that the agency has degraded itself to a tool in the hands of the Zionist regime, and lost its standing as a credible international organization,” the official added.

Addressing the issue of the aggression itself, Kamalvandi said, "This act by the Zionist regime is in contrast to the international law, including resolutions of the IAEA’s Board of Governors, the General Conference, and the UN Security Council." 

He additionally described a recent anti-Iran report by Grossi as a “political and customized” one produced under the influence of “a concerted group of Western states” that had pushed the IAEA towards releasing unequivocal accounts of Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy activities.

“The agency has practically deviated from the path of professionalism and impartiality by preparing biased political reports based on fake information received from the Zionist regime."

The spokesman pledged that political pressures, which have been coupled with military force, would not undermine the determination of scientists, specialists, and employees of Iran's nuclear industry.

"Contrary to the wishes of the enemies, these honorable people will pursue the country's lofty goals of further advancing the nuclear industry with added motivation," it said.

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