IAEA ready to send nuclear safety experts to Iran following US strikes

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed readiness to immediately dispatch nuclear safety experts to Iran and continue monitoring the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made the statement during an emergency session of the UN Security Council convened in response to US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Caliber.Az reports, citing Western media.

"As I stated in this chamber just a few days ago, I am ready to travel immediately and to engage with all relevant parties to help ensure the protection of nuclear facilities and the continued peaceful use of nuclear technology in accordance with the Agency mandate, including by deploying Agency nuclear safety and security experts, in addition to our safeguards inspectors in Iran, wherever necessary," Grossi added.

The already tense situation persisting between Israel and Iran since June 13, which is in its 11th day on June 23, deteriorated even more as American forces conducted airstrikes on June 21 on three key Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. The attacks, described by US President Trump as a “spectacular military success,” aimed to dismantle Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities, which the US and Israel claim pose a severe threat to global security.

The US operation involved B-2 Spirit stealth bombers deploying GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs designed to penetrate deeply buried targets. The primary target, Fordow, is a heavily fortified uranium enrichment facility located 300 feet beneath a mountain south of Tehran, making it one of Iran’s most secure nuclear sites. Six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen MOPs on Fordow, while US Navy submarines launched 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Natanz and Isfahan, according to US officials. Trump claimed the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities.

By Khagan Isayev