Iran official: US strike targeted perimeter of Bushehr nuclear plant
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr, Iran in 2025. (AP/File)
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Updated 09 July 2026 18:12
AFP
July 09, 202611:33
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- Deputy governor of Bushehr province says US strikes hit the edge of the site of Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant
- UN nuclear agency previously warned that attacks near the plant “pose a very real danger to nuclear safety”
TEHRAN: The United States targeted the perimeter of Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant with a strike on Thursday, Iranian state media reported, citing the deputy governor of Bushehr province.
“Several areas in Bushehr province were targeted today, including the perimeter of the nuclear power plant, a military base in the town of Choghadak and a fishing pier in the south of the province,” Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr province, said. He added there were no reports of casualties so far.
It came after residents of Choghadak, little more than 20 kilometers from the Bushehr plant, reported hearing several explosions.
Strikes have previously landed near the power station during the Middle East war.
In April, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, warned that attacks near the plant “pose a very real danger to nuclear safety and must stop.”
The power station, built with Russian help, has one operational reactor and two further ones under construction. Russia evacuated its staff from the site during the war.
Non-profit monitor ACLED has reported four strikes near the plant during the war.
The claim that an attack hit near the nuclear site came amid
new fighting between the US and Iran hours ahead of the burial of longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday.
Tehran
targeted US allies in the region after the US launched a second wave of strikes against Iran.
The renewed hostilities, triggered by tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, sparked concerns of a return to full-scale war after an April ceasefire and a June US-Iran accord ended five weeks of conflict.
Iranian officials reported that the two days of US attacks had killed 17 people.
The Islamic republic said it had resumed its attacks targeting US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, while sirens blared in Jordan – another US ally – where the military said it had intercepted eight missiles launched from Iran.
The fighting came with Iran preparing to bury Khamenei, who was killed alongside close family members on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28.
The Iranian foreign ministry said the US attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, including railway bridges, and described the strikes as a "gross war crime".
US military officials said Thursday's strikes hit approximately 90 Iranian military targets, including air defence systems, missile and drone storage sites.
Iran's army said it had targeted a Patriot missile interceptor system in Kuwait, an early warning system in Qatar and fuel tanks in Bahrain with drones, as part of its attacks on US bases in the region.
) defeated NATO and more in their 20-year struggle as claimed by the Taliban and their supporters.
