Iran reports US strike near Bushehr nuclear plant after explosions
Iran said a U.S. projectile hit the perimeter of Bushehr’s nuclear plant, sharpening fears that retaliation could pull Gulf states and energy routes deeper into the fight.
Iranian state media said a U.S. projectile struck the perimeter area of the Bushehr nuclear power plant after explosions were reported in southern Iran, raising the stakes around Iran’s only operational nuclear power facility. Iranian officials denied damage to the reactor itself, but the report put one of the region’s most sensitive sites at the center of an expanding exchange of strikes.
The Bushehr plant sits in Bushehr province on Iran’s Gulf coast, about 1,200 kilometres from Tehran. Its location has long made it a nuclear-safety concern. The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that damage to Bushehr, or to its off-site power lines, could trigger a radiological accident and affect people inside Iran and beyond its borders. Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, has previously singled out Bushehr and the Tehran Research Reactor as the agency’s main concerns because strikes affecting them could cause such an accident.
The latest blast reports came after the United States launched another round of strikes against Iran early Thursday, extending the conflict into a second night of attacks. U.S. Central Command also confirmed the follow-on strike campaign, reinforcing the view that the confrontation had moved beyond a single retaliatory episode and into a wider exchange of force.
Tehran answered by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, a move that immediately widened the circle of risk around Gulf stability. Those states sit close to major energy infrastructure and U.S. military positions, so each additional round of strikes increases the pressure on shipping lanes, air defenses and emergency diplomacy across the Gulf.
Donald Trump said the ceasefire, or interim agreement, was “over” after the latest escalation, shutting down the brief diplomatic opening that had been intended to contain the fighting. The collapse of that arrangement leaves fewer off-ramps as the cycle of retaliation accelerates.
Bushehr has already been flagged in earlier agency warnings as a place where a miscalculation could have consequences far beyond Iran’s borders. The IAEA said in prior reporting that the worst nuclear-safety scenario was avoided when the plant was not hit, underscoring how close the latest episode came to a far more dangerous outcome.
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