Iran’s N-plant hit, no leak; over 20 nations to Iran: Cease attacks, reopen Hormuz

DUBAI: As the war in the Middle East enters its 4th week, it appears to be heading to a dangerous phase with Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility being hit in an airstrike Saturday, an official Iranian news agency reported.

It said there was no radiation leakage, as Israeli defence minister warned of an upcoming surge in attacks on Iran.

Israel Katz, the defence minister, said in a video statement that next week, “the intensity of the attacks” by Israel and the United States against Iran’s ruling theocracy will “increase significantly”.

He spoke shortly after fragments from an Iranian missile slammed into an empty kindergarten near Tel Aviv.

Overnight and into the morning, Tehran saw heavy airstrikes. In Iraq, a drone struck the intelligence service headquarters in Baghdad, killing an officer. No group immediately claimed responsibility for that attack.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Mideast even as the United States was sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the region. Trump’s post on social media followed an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide. The mixed messages from the US came after another climb in oil prices plunged the US stock market, and was followed by a Trump administration announcement it was lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded on ships, a move aimed at wrangling soaring fuel prices.

Britain meanwhile condemned “Iran’s reckless attacks” after its military fired missiles at the UK-US air base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean on Friday. UK officials have not given details of the attempted strike, which was unsuccessful. It’s unclear how close the missiles came to the base, which is about 4,000 kilometres from Iran. Britain has not participated in US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but has allowed American bombers to use UK bases to attack Iran’s missile sites.

On Friday, the British government said US bombers can also use UK bases, including Diego Garcia, in operations to prevent Iran attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran targeted the base before that UK statement.

Iran’s official news agency Mizan said there was no leakage after Saturday’s strike on the Natanz nuclear facility, nearly 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran.

The facility, Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, was hit in the first week of the war and several buildings appeared damaged, according to satellite images. The UN nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — had said “no radiological consequence” were expected from that earlier strike. Natanz had also been targeted in the 12-day war last June.

The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programmes. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end to the war in sight.

On social media, Trump said, “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East”. That seemed at odds with his administration’s move to bolster its firepower in the region and request another USD 200 billion from Congress to fund the war.

Iran’s top military spokesperson, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned Friday that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide will not be safe for the country’s enemies. The threat renewed concerns that Tehran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised Iranians’ steadfastness in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television to mark Nowruz. Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader following Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and reportedly wounded him. The Israeli military said early Saturday that it began a wave of strikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Lebanese government. More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 US military members have been killed.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called strikes on the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility “a brazen violation of international law”.

In a statement posted on the ministry’s website Saturday, Zakharova said such “irresponsible actions” posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East” and were “clearly aimed at further undermining peace, stability, and security in the region”.

In another related development, twenty-two countries on Saturday urged Iran to cease attacks and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Australia have condemned Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels as well as oil and gas facilities in the region.

“The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable,” they said in a joint statement.