The Israeli Air Force struck two more of Iran’s nuclear sites on June 19, including a nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium and the country’s largest uranium enrichment facility.
Just before 5 a.m. local time in Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on its Farsi-language channel, issued a warning urging anyone within 2 kilometers of the inactive Arak nuclear plant, since renamed Khondab, to evacuate immediately. Internet access in Iran has been cut for nearly 24 hours, according to NetBlocks, a global internet monitor. The regime imposed a nationwide shutdown, citing Israel’s alleged misuse of the network for military purposes.
The IDF later said that Israel’s air force had conducted strikes on Arak and another site at Natanz used to enrich nuclear material, as part of a wave of attacks on military targets in Tehran and other areas.
The Israeli Air Force said the strikes also hit military production sites that produced and assembled ballistic missiles, as well as Iranian air defense systems, including air defense batteries, missile storage sites, and radars.
The attacks were part of “the Air Force’s extensive operations to damage the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program,” it said.
About 200 kilometers southwest of Tehran, the inactive Arak Nuclear Complex (IR-40), built in the 2000s for nuclear research and isotope production, hosts Iran’s IR-40 heavy water nuclear reactor.
The site has been the focus of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring because of its potential for producing plutonium used in nuclear weapons. Iran’s current nuclear weapons potential is based on enriched uranium, as the regime does not have the capacity to process spent fuel from the reactor into weapons-grade plutonium.
The strikes on Arak “targeted components of the reactor designed to produce plutonium, in order to prevent its capability from being restored to nuclear weapons production,” the IDF said.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a statement to Al Jazeera that no casualties were reported, and that “due to preemptive safety measures taken beforehand, there is no threat or harm posed to residents in the vicinity of the mentioned site.”
The organization said it had reported the attack to the IAEA.
The IAEA said that the site, which was under construction, was hit.
“It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects,” the IAEA stated, adding that it does not believe the heavy water production plant accompanying the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor was hit in the Israeli attacks.
As for Natanz, which is Iran’s primary uranium enrichment site, the Israeli Air Force said the site contained “unique components and equipment used in the development of nuclear weapons.” Highly enriched uranium can be used for both civilian nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
The Natanz enrichment facility, which was built deep underground and protected by reinforced concrete walls, had already been targeted in Israel’s initial attacks on June 13. Those strikes destroyed Natanz’s above-ground pilot enrichment plant and caused damage to the underground enrichment halls and supporting infrastructure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the follow-up attack overnight into June 19, “We dealt heavy blows to Iran and disabled the Natanz nuclear facility.”
Israel has said its intelligence believes that the Iranian regime is within days or weeks of having enough highly enriched uranium to have the capacity for a nuclear weapon by using its advanced centrifuges to reach 90 percent enrichment.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim on June 18, “We came to the conclusion that we could not affirm there is any systematic effort in Iran at the moment to manufacture a nuclear weapon.”
He said the IAEA’s report found that Iran is enriching uranium to 60 percent, so “there were elements for concern.”
Israel Says Large Hospital Hit as Iran Retaliates
Iran retaliated with a wave of missile attacks on central Israel and Beersheba in southern Israel, which damaged the Soroka Hospital complex, one of Israel’s largest hospitals, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Netanyahu said in a post on social media platform X: “This morning, Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at the civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
According to Arab media outlet Al Mayadeen, Iranian Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi praised the IRGC for its response to Israel’s overnight strikes.
The outlet also reported that Iranian state news agency IRNA claimed an Israeli military command center involved in cyber and intelligence operations, located at Gav Yam Technology Park just over one kilometer from Soroka Hospital, was the main target of the missile attack.
“The hospital was only exposed to the blast wave and did not suffer serious damage, but military infrastructure was a precise and direct target,” the report said.
The technology parkhouses some of Israel’s leading cyber units. The Ben Gurion University and the IDF’s C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence) headquarters are also nearby.
In a statement posted to X, the IDF said: “The claim of an intelligence base or military equipment beneath the hospital is another lie. We are not so depraved as to endanger civilians. Attacking hospitals is a war crime.”
Israeli Health Minister Uriel Buso said, “A red line was crossed, it is a war crime by the Iranian regime.”
Israel’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom, said on June 19 that at least 65 people had been injured by the missiles that penetrated Israel’s air defense systems.
Israeli media also reported that the Ramat Gan area of Tel Aviv was targeted by Iranian missiles. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building was reportedly among the buildings damaged in the attacks.
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