Iran’s nuclear sites seriously damaged after US strikes, FM confirms

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reported serious damage to the country’s nuclear facilities following recent U.S. strikes.

In an interview with CBS News, Araghchi said, “No one knows exactly what happened in Fordow. However, we currently know that the facilities were seriously and severely damaged.”

He added that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation is conducting an assessment and will submit a report to the government. “There is currently no accurate information regarding the extent of the damage,” he said. “We have to wait for assessments, whether or not it is possible to restart [the nuclear facilities] and whether or not they will be restarted.”

Araghchi also emphasized Iran’s official stance on nuclear weapons, stating, “According to religious precepts, the fatwa of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], nuclear weapons have no place in the defense doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran; they are prohibited from a religious point of view.”

His statements follow a major U.S. military operation called “Midnight Hammer,” launched on June 21. This coordinated strike involved 125 aircraft targeting three of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. A key aspect of the attack was the use of 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), powerful bunker-busting bombs aimed at Fordow, a uranium enrichment facility deeply buried under a mountain near Tehran, regarded as one of Iran’s most fortified nuclear sites.

The U.S. operation occurred amid escalating regional tensions. On June 13, Israel launched surprise attacks on several Iranian nuclear and military targets, accusing Iran of nearing the production of a nuclear weapon — a claim Iran denies, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful.

Following the Israeli strikes, Iran retaliated with missile attacks against Israeli territory, triggering a swift and intense exchange of fire between the two nations, known as the “12-Day War.”

The hostilities paused on the evening of June 23, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.

By Tamilla Hasanova