Israel has reportedly carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak nuclear reactor and a key nuclear weapons development facility in the city of Natanz. The Israeli military confirmed the attacks, which were reported late on Wednesday night (June 18), according to BBC Bangla.
Several international media outlets also reported that an area near one of Iran’s nuclear reactors was targeted in the attack. Though the reactor is currently “inactive,” it remains unclear whether the facility itself was directly hit.
This incident comes at a time when tensions between Israel and Iran have reached a boiling point, and the global community is growing increasingly anxious about the safety of nuclear installations in the region.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Arak reactor is designed to produce high-grade plutonium—one of the critical materials used in manufacturing nuclear weapons. The strike was aimed specifically at the plutonium production section to prevent the reactor from being restarted and repurposed for weapons development.
In Natanz, the facility houses advanced equipment and special components directly linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. These projects, according to Israeli intelligence, are accelerating Iran’s capabilities to develop a bomb.
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The IDF said the recent offensive involved 40 fighter jets and struck numerous Iranian military sites, including factories producing ballistic missile components, assembly plants, air defense units, and missile development centers.
Ahead of the attack, the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for residents of Arak and Khondab, urging them via a post on X (formerly Twitter) to leave the area “as quickly as possible” for their own safety.
Iran’s ISNA news agency, which is run by students, reported that the nuclear facility had already been evacuated before the attack and that officials confirmed there was no threat of radiation leakage.
This is not the first time Natanz has been targeted. Earlier this week, the head of the global nuclear watchdog told the media that while the underground uranium enrichment centrifuges may not have been fully destroyed, they likely sustained significant damage.
Israel has long accused Iran of stockpiling enriched uranium beyond civilian use levels, inching dangerously close to the threshold required to make a nuclear bomb. Iran, however, insists that its nuclear activities are solely for electricity generation and peaceful purposes.
