Israel struck the Arak heavy water reactor yesterday, leaving a hole in the top of the reactor containment vessel and doing other damage to the facility. According to AP, the Arak facility had been modified to be in compliance with the JCPOA that included pouring concrete into part of it, though the overall work never was completed. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that since it was not in operation and contained no nuclear material, there was no danger to the public after the strike from any “radiological effects.” The IAEA said it had no information on whether the facility nearby where heavy water is produced had also been hit.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the United Nations Security Council to enforce its own Resolution 487—passed in the aftermath of Israel’s attack on the Osirak reactor in Baghdad in 1981—and safeguard the global nonproliferation regime following Israel’s brazen military aggression and bombardment of Iran’s heavy water reactor in Arak.
“The Arak Heavy Water Reactor—a facility under comprehensive IAEA safeguards and under construction in strict accordance with the technical specifications agreed upon in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to eliminate any proliferation risk—was bombed yesterday in broad daylight by the Israeli regime,” Araghchi said in a post on his X account on Friday morning, June 20. “As the Security Council convenes today, it is imperative that it upholds and enforces its own Resolution 487, adopted unanimously in response to the Israeli regime’s 1981 attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility,” he underlined.
