The Israeli Air Force bombed Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor Thursday morning, along with a second strike on the Natanz enrichment facility and dozens of other military sites overnight, the military announced as an operation aimed at destroying the Iranian nuclear program entered its seventh day.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, a wave of overnight strikes involved 40 fighter jets dropping 100 munitions on dozens of Iranian military facilities in Tehran and other areas of Iran.
The IDF issued a warning ahead of the strike on the Arak reactor and urged residents in nearby areas to flee.
“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said.
The research reactor was only partially built, with Tehran informing the UN nuclear watchdog that it planned to begin operating the facility next year.
The IDF later released footage showing the strike.
Israel separately said it struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.
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