JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - Israel's Defense Force said it attacked a centrifuge production site and multiple weapon manufacturing facilities in the Tehran area, which are key elements of Iran's nuclear weapons and missile programs, overnight.
Centrifuges are machines that enrich uranium, which has the potential to make nuclear bombs.
The IDF said in a statement posted on X that more than 50 IAF fighter jets targeted a facility for producing centrifuges used to enrich uranium beyond civilian levels.
Sites manufacturing parts for surface-to-surface missiles fired at Israel and a facility for surface-to-air missile components used to target aircraft also came under attack.
'These strikes directly degrade Iran's ability to threaten Israel and the region,' according to IDF.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the Israeli claim.
An advanced centrifuge rotors manufacturing unit at the Tehran Research Center, and a multiple centrifuge components manufacturing units at the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company site in Karaj were damaged in the attacks, BBC reported, quoting IAEA.
The UN nuclear watchdog says both sites were under its surveillance as per Iran's NPT safeguards obligations.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi earlier told the Board of Governors that there has been no additional damage at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant site since the Friday attack, which destroyed the above-ground part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, one of the plants at which Iran was producing uranium enriched up to 60 percent.
Electricity infrastructure at the facility, which included an electrical sub-station, a main electric power supply building, and emergency power supply and back-up generators, was also destroyed.
The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event.
Grossi confirmed that there is radiological and chemical contamination within the Natanz facility.
No damage has been detected at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or at the Khondab heavy water reactor.
The IAEA chief called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation.
'Military escalation threatens lives, increases the chance of a radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment and delays indispensable work towards a diplomatic solution for the long-term assurance that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,' Grossi said in a statement.
He promised that the agency will act within its statutory mandate to assist in preventing a nuclear accident that could result in unpredictable radiological consequences.
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