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  "path": "/partner/iaea-chief-urges-restraint-as-strike-reported-at-irans-natanz-nuclear-facility",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-21T12:34:20.000Z",
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  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nThe head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged restraint to avoid a nuclear accident on Saturday as Tehran reported a strike on its nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz.\n\nAccording to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, the United States and Israel targeted the Natanz facility in Isfahan province, which houses underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear program and was already damaged during last year’s June war.\n\n“Following the criminal attacks by the United States and the usurping Zionist regime against our country, the… Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning,” the organization said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, adding that no leakage of nuclear materials had been reported.\n\nRafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called for “military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident”, while the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that no increase in off-site radiation levels had been detected.\n\nThousands of Iranians held Eid al-Fitr prayers on Saturday to mark the end of the Ramadan fast, as Israel threatened intensified bombardment.\n\nIran’s supreme leader traditionally leads Eid prayers, but Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who came to power earlier this month after his father was killed in a US-Israeli strike, has remained out of the public eye.\n\nInstead, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, attended prayers at central Tehran's Imam Khomeini grand mosque, which was filled to overflowing, with worshippers flooding the streets outside.\n\nThe previous evening, airstrikes had darkened the mood as the city celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year.\n\n\"The atmosphere of the New Year was spreading through the city. Places like Tajrish or Golestan Shahrak, where I went, were full of well-dressed and beautiful women buying flowers,\" said Farid, an advertising executive, reached by AFP through an online message.\n\n\"The Israeli attacks happening exactly at the moment of the New Year were deeply upsetting. The thought that some people could be dying right at the New Year dinner table was painful.\"\n\nIran's key ally Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Khamenei, \"wished the Iranian people strength on overcoming these severe trials and emphasized that during this difficult time, Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran\".\n\nAsked about Natanz, the Israeli military said it was \"not aware of a strike\".\n\nAfter three weeks of a conflict that has sent world energy prices soaring, blocked the Strait of Hormuz oil export route and strained Washington's ties with its closest allies, US President Donald Trump said once again that he was thinking of pulling back.\n\n\"We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East,\" Trump posted on social media.\n\nThe White House press secretary said the Pentagon was looking at four to six weeks to complete its mission.\n\nNevertheless, according to US media reports, Washington is deploying thousands more marines to the Middle East, in a possible sign of a ground operation, and Iran continues to carry out strikes on both Israel and its oil and gas-rich Gulf neighbors.\n\nAfter Iranian missile fire at Israel overnight, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes on what it called \"regime targets\" in Iran's capital, which has been under bombardment since a US-Israeli attack started the war on February 28.\n\n\"This week, the intensity of the strikes to be carried out by the IDF and the US military against the Iranian terror regime and the infrastructure on which it relies will rise significantly,\" Defence Minister Israel Katz said.\n\nAs concerns grow over oil prices and global supply shortages, the US Treasury said it was temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels.\n\nThe authorization allows for the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products loaded onto ships before March 20 and will last through April 19.\n\nAs energy analysts and consumers count the cost of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf, including the world's largest liquefied natural gas hub, Trump slammed NATO allies as \"cowards\" and called on them to secure the Strait of Hormuz.\n\nIran has choked the channel, which is crucial for around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas during peacetime.\n\n\"The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!\" Trump said.\n\nIran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had imposed restrictions on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran but would offer assistance to others.\n\nThe standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with a barrel of North Sea Brent crude up more than 50 percent over the past month and now comfortably more than $105 a barrel.",
  "title": "IAEA chief urges restraint as strike reported at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility"
}