Iranian state media reported that key nuclear facilities were targeted on Friday, just hours after Israel threatened to “escalate and expand” its military campaign against Tehran.
According to IRNA, strikes hit a heavy-water plant and a yellowcake production facility. Al Jazeera, citing Iran's Fars news agency, reported that a heavy-water reactor in central Iran was attacked.
“The Khondab Heavy Water Complex was targeted in two stages by aggression from the American and Zionist enemy,” Fars quoted Hassan Ghamari, an official in Markazi province, as saying.
Authorities said there were no casualties and no radiation leak from the site.
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Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation confirmed that the strike on the yellowcake production plant in Ardakan did not result in any radioactive leakage.
“Yellowcake” is a concentrated powder of uranium that is converted for use in various chemical compounds that can be enriched or used to manufacture fuel, the agency said.
The developments come amid heightened geopolitical tensions, with US President Donald Trump stating that talks to end the conflict were progressing “very well” and giving Tehran time until April 6 to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has denied that any negotiations are underway.
Tehran has rejected a 15-point US ceasefire proposal that includes relinquishing control over the strategic waterway, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies typically pass. At the same time, it has reportedly deployed thousands of additional troops to the region.
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Trump warned that failure to reopen the strait would trigger further escalation, including potential strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure.
Separately, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a warning to companies linked to the US and Israel. According to Tasnim, the IRGC called on employees of such firms to evacuate immediately, saying its forces were carrying out retaliatory attacks on industrial targets.
“Employees of those industries should leave and residents within a one-kilometre radius should evacuate until the attack is over,” the IRGC said, signalling the risk of further escalation across the region.
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