UPDATE: Iranian Nuclear Sites Safe

Just after Israel’s retaliatory missile strike on Iran this evening, rumors started circulating online about a possible hit on an Iranian nuclear facility.

Reports of explosions in the Iranian province of Isfahan — which is home to Iranian nuclear sites — have been confirmed.

BREAKING: ISRAEL ARMY BOMBED AREAS NEAR ISFAHAN AND NATANZ WHICH CONTAINS IMPORTANT FACILITIES OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM pic.twitter.com/LOPdgNX5Uc

— Faizan Sarwar Khan (@faizansarwar__) April 19, 2024

But, according to U.S. officials, the targets of Israel’s attack on Iran are not nuclear.

Does not sound like nuclear sites were targeted. Military targets only. US was notified in advance. Escalation was not the objective.

Israel demonstrating its capability to reach inside Iran at will. That is the step taken tonight to begin restoring deterrence.

— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) April 19, 2024

The Hill reports:

Explosions were reported inside of Iran while unconfirmed reports indicated multiple Iranian sites were struck by Israel, according to several news outlets.

U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News, CNN, and ABC News that the attack was carried out by Israel in response to the recent Iran airstrikes on Israel. A U.S. official reportedly told CNN the targets of the attacks are not nuclear or civilian.

The semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency reported explosions near the city of Isfahan in central Iran. The state-run Iranian news agency Press TV also reported explosions in Isfahan.

Other unconfirmed reports indicate potential strikes near the cities of Daraa in Syria and Baghdad in Iraq.

Flights were being diverted around western Iran early Friday morning local time, according to the Associated Press.

It’s not clear what the immediate targets were, but Isfahan is home to Iranian nuclear facilities and sites.

Iranian media has just confirmed that, despite speculation, the nuke site is safe.

Iranian nuclear sites in Isfahan are safe, amid an Israeli strike on the country, state-backed media FARS reports. https://t.co/Gbey59u2V8

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 19, 2024

From NBC News:

State-backed Iranian media FARS reported that nuclear sites in Isfahan are safe, amid an Israeli strike on the country.

“Some reports from foreign news agencies about incidents in these facilities is incorrect,” the news agency, aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported.

Isfahan is in central Iran. A military factory there was attacked in 2023.

Earlier on Thursday, Iran warned Israel not to attack their nuclear sites, or else they would consider changing their currently peaceful “nuclear doctrine.”

🚨🇮🇷 BREAKING: IS THE AYATOLLAH RECONSIDERING STANCE ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

Iran’s nuclear doctrine, which the country adopted in 2003, was a pledge to refrain from attempting to adopt nuclear programs for military purposes.

However, Iran has warned it may review its peaceful… pic.twitter.com/EYCrEdQNt8

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 18, 2024

More on this, from Newsweek:

Iran said that it may have grounds to review its “nuclear doctrine” if Israel targets its atomic facilities as fear grows of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East.

The comment by a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander on Thursday comes less than a week after Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, which Iran said was in response to the deadly Israeli strike on its embassy in Syria earlier this month.

Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s air raid, despite several of its Western allies, including the United States, urging for the tension to be contained before a greater conflict breaks out.

On Thursday, IRGC commander Ahmad Haqtalab, the head of Tehran’s nuclear security, said that the “threats of the Zionist regime [Israel] against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations,” as reported by the Tasnim News Agency, which is closely affiliated with the IRGC.

Haqtalab added that Israel’s nuclear facilities “have been identified, and we have the necessary information about all the targets…in other words, our fingers are on the trigger.”