Tehran: Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) has sharply criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its “clear complicity” in not condemning US-Israeli military strikes on key nuclear sites, state broadcaster Press TV reported.
The AEOI highlighted the IAEA’s refusal to denounce the recent assaults, arguing that this stance effectively sides the UN nuclear watchdog with the aggressors. In a social media statement released on Friday, AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami disclosed multiple outreach efforts to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, pressing him to issue a formal rebuke of the “illegal attacks” on facilities devoted to peaceful nuclear energy.
“The IAEA’s silence on US and Zionist regime’s attacks on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities is not merely inaction but clear complicity with the perpetrator
s.” According to Press TV, the organisation further lambasted this as “historic negligence” that damages international confidence and “erodes the IAEA’s little remaining credibility.”
AEOI spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi reinforced the charges, pointing out that the struck sites fell under IAEA monitoring. He had earlier labelled such attacks “a war crime” owing to their grave humanitarian and security implications.
These rebukes come amid Press TV reports of extensive damage verified by the IAEA itself: the Khondab Heavy Water Plant endured “severe damage” and is “no longer operational” following a March 27 hit, with the Ardakan yellowcake production facility targeted the same day.
Press TV recalled that the Khondab complex had previously been attacked during a 12-day war last June, underscoring the sites’ repeated exposure. This pattern has sparked fears over regional hazards, including the nightmare of radioactive material releases.
Human rights organisations have amplified these alarms, stressing that strikes on safeguarded nuclear infrastructure threaten worldwide security. They caution that any radioactive leakage could unleash a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe with impacts stretching well beyond Iran.