TEHRAN: Iran has formally alerted the United Nations to the risk of a “radioactive catastrophe” following the latest in a series of US-Israeli strikes near its Bushehr nuclear power plant, an incident that killed at least one person and prompted Russia to evacuate hundreds of its personnel.
In an urgent letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Security Council, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that continued attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure “expose the entire region to a serious risk of radioactive contamination, which could have grave consequences for human health and the environment”.
The strike on Saturday, which Tehran has labeled the fourth such attack on the Bushehr facility since the conflict began, killed an Iranian member of the site’s security staff and damaged an auxiliary building, according to Iranian authorities and the IAEA. While the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that no increase in radiation levels has been detected, Araqchi stressed that the proximity of the attacks to the active reactor creates an “intolerable situation”.
In a stark warning posted on social media, the Iranian Foreign Minister directly compared the international response to the situation in Ukraine, asking, “Do you remember the Western world’s anger and outrage over the clashes near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant?” He added that any radioactive fallout would “end life in GCC capitals, not Tehran”, implicitly pressuring Gulf Arab states to distance themselves from the conflict.
The escalating danger has forced Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation, Rosatom, which operates at the plant, to accelerate its evacuation. Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev confirmed that 198 staff members were evacuated by bus toward the Iranian-Armenian border following the attack. Likhachev described the situation around the plant as developing according to the “worst possible scenario” and has informed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the developments.
The attack on Bushehr, Iran’s only operational nuclear reactor, follows a series of similar incidents in recent weeks and coincides with intensified US-Israeli strikes on Iranian petrochemical facilities. Iran has condemned the strikes as a violation of international law, while the IAEA has reiterated its call for “maximum military restraint” to avoid a nuclear accident.
