Fear Hinders Foreigners Injured in Beirut Blast from Getting Immediate Treatment

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the Jordanian field hospital in Ras Dekwaneh (National News Agency)
Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the Jordanian field hospital in Ras Dekwaneh (National News Agency)
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Fear Hinders Foreigners Injured in Beirut Blast from Getting Immediate Treatment

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the Jordanian field hospital in Ras Dekwaneh (National News Agency)
Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting the Jordanian field hospital in Ras Dekwaneh (National News Agency)

Abedel, a 38-year-old Bangladeshi laborer, stands in front of one of the field hospitals that provide medical services in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael district. His wounds were minor, or they might have not been serious if they were treated promptly, but he did not go to the hospital immediately after he was injured in the August 4 explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital's port, and his wounds have become infected.

"I was in Bourj Hammoud, and the glass fell on me," he says, using the few Arabic words he knows and pointing to his hand. He was afraid of going to the hospital because he did not have the money and because of his illegal status.

Many of these workers speak of a similar fear to that of the Lebanese, but for them it was doubled. Some of them suddenly recognized that they could not speak the language, others wanted to flee, only for fear of security forces or the army discovering they were staying in the country illegally. As for the gravest fear; it was to die without someone recognizing them, as one worker said in broken Arabic: “My family is not here. Who will know my name.”

Dozens of workers visit the rescue tents that were set up in the squares near the site of the explosion on a daily basis. Most of them did not receive appropriate treatment despite the Ministry of Health’s decision to treat all victims at its expense without discriminating between Lebanese and non-Lebanese, but this decision, of course, did apply to them. So, most of them decided to "bite the wound” in other words, treat it at home, like Hamza, another Bangladeshi worker, who was injured in his face and hand in the Nabaa suburb and decided a week after the explosion to treat his injuries in one of the field clinics because they are free of charge.

The explosion claimed the lives of 11 Bangladeshi, Filipino and Ethiopian nationals.

Unlike Abedel and Hamza, 24-year-old Mekdes, an Ethiopian worker in a beauty shop in Gemmayze, was not panicking about going to the hospital, but about dying before being found.

"I heard a loud sound and glass shattering. Everyone ran away and I was left alone on the shop floor. I didn't know what was happening and why I couldn't move." I did not think of anything except that I was alone, abandoned and forgotten, as if I were nothing," she said, stuttering.

Mekdes was able to go to the hospital with the help of a friend, but she was unable to get immediate treatment even though she had a head injury. “Take a (Panadol) pill, your injury is minor”, a hospital employee told her. He then added: "You should go to (Rafic Hariri) Hospital." She then went to another hospital, where she was treated.

Mekdes considers Beirut her second home. She has been working here for more than seven years. She is saddened by these words, but she says, with a smile: “Beirut is beautiful and will bounce back and become more beautiful. Perhaps, treating me is not a priority because I am Ethiopian."

Hundreds of workers lost their homes or part of them due to the explosion, especially those who live in areas close to the port, such as Nabaa, Sin el-Fil and Karm al-Zaytoun.

They had already been suffering from problems that were exacerbated by the dollar crisis and then the coronavirus epidemic. This had already pushed many of them to return to their country, and those who remained, either because they couldn’t buy tickets, as is the case for Abedel, or because they chose, like the Lebanese, to confront whatever comes next, as Mekdes said.



How Much Damage Have Israeli Strikes Caused to Iran’s Nuclear Program?

A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
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How Much Damage Have Israeli Strikes Caused to Iran’s Nuclear Program?

A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)

Israel has carried out wide-ranging military strikes on Iran, hitting sites including some of its most important nuclear facilities.

Below is a summary of what is known about the damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear program, incorporating data from the last quarterly report by the UN nuclear watchdog on May 31.

OVERVIEW

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity. This could easily be refined further to the roughly 90% which is weapons grade.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects Iran's nuclear sites including its enrichment plants, says that is of "serious concern" because no other country has enriched to that level without producing nuclear weapons. Western powers say there is no civil justification for enrichment to that level.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. It points to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

HEART OF THE PROGRAM: URANIUM ENRICHMENT

Iran had three operating uranium enrichment plants when Israel began its attacks:

* The Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz (power supply hit)

A vast underground facility designed to house 50,0000 centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium.

There has long been speculation among military experts about whether Israeli airstrikes could destroy the facility given that it is several floors underground.

There are about 17,000 centrifuges installed there, of which around 13,500 were operating at last count, enriching uranium to up to 5%.

Electricity infrastructure at Natanz was destroyed, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on Friday, specifically an electrical sub-station, the main electric power supply building, emergency power supply and back-up generators.

While there was no indication of a physical attack on the underground hall containing the FEP, "the loss of power ... may have damaged the centrifuges there", he said.

Grossi has cited unspecified "information available to the IAEA". While Iran has provided the agency with some information, the IAEA generally makes extensive use of satellite imagery.

* The Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz (destroyed)

The smallest and, being above-ground, the softest target of the three enrichment plants. Long a research and development center, it used fewer centrifuges than the other plants, often connected in smaller clusters of machines known as cascades.

It did, however, have two interconnected, full-size cascades of up to 164 advanced centrifuges each, enriching uranium to up to 60%. Apart from that, there were only up to 201 centrifuges operating at the PFEP enriching to up to 2%.

Most of the research and development work attributed to the PFEP had recently been moved underground to the FEP, where more than 1,000 of its advanced centrifuges were enriching to up to 5%.

The PFEP was destroyed in the Israeli attack, Grossi said.

* The Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (no visible damage)

Iran's most deeply buried enrichment site, dug into a mountain, suffered no visible damage, Grossi reiterated on Monday.

While it has only about 2,000 centrifuges in operation, it produces the vast majority of Iran's uranium enriched to up to 60%, using roughly the same number of centrifuges as the PFEP did, because it feeds uranium enriched to up to 20% into those cascades compared to 5% at the PFEP.

Fordo therefore produced 166.6 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% in the most recent quarter. According to an IAEA yardstick, that is enough in principle, if enriched further, for just under four nuclear weapons, compared to the PFEP's 19.2 kg, less than half a bomb's worth.

OTHER FACILITIES

Israeli strikes damaged four buildings at the nuclear complex at Isfahan, the IAEA has said, including the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) and facilities where work on uranium metal was conducted.

While it has other uses, mastering uranium metal technology is an important step in making the core of a nuclear weapon. If Iran were to try to make a nuclear weapon, it would need to take weapons-grade uranium and turn it into uranium metal.

Uranium conversion is the process by which "yellowcake" uranium is turned into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges, so that it can be enriched. If the UCF is out of use, Iran will eventually run out of uranium to enrich unless it finds an outside source of uranium hexafluoride.

SCIENTISTS

At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources said on Sunday.

Israel's armed forces named nine of them on Saturday, saying they "played a central part of the progress toward nuclear weapons" and that "their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction". That assertion could not immediately be verified.

Western powers have often said Iran's nuclear advances provide it with an "irreversible knowledge gain", suggesting that while losing experts or facilities may slow progress, the advances are permanent.

URANIUM STOCKPILE

Iran has a large stock of uranium enriched to different levels.

As of May 17, Iran was estimated to have enough uranium enriched to up to 60% for it to make nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.

At lower enrichment levels it has enough for more bombs, though it would take more effort: enough enriched to up to 20% for two more, and enough enriched to up to 5% for 11 more.

Much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stockpile is stored at Isfahan under IAEA seal, officials have said. The IAEA does not report where it is stored, nor has it said whether it was affected by the strikes.

OPEN QUESTIONS

* How will Iran respond?

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV on Saturday Iran would take measures to protect nuclear materials and equipment that would not be notified to the IAEA and it would no longer cooperate with the IAEA as before.

Lawmakers are also preparing a bill that could prompt Iran to pull out of the NPT, following in the footsteps of North Korea, which announced its withdrawal in 2003 and went on to test nuclear weapons.

The IAEA does not know how many centrifuges Iran has outside its enrichment plants. Any further reduction in cooperation with the IAEA could increase speculation that it will or has set up a secret enrichment plant using some of that supply.

Existing centrifuge cascades can also be reconfigured to enrich to a different purity level within a week, officials have said.

* What is the status of the uranium stock?

If Iran can no longer convert, its existing stock of uranium hexafluoride and enriched uranium becomes even more important.

* How bad is the damage?

The IAEA has not yet been able to carry out inspections to assess the damage there in detail.

* Will there be more attacks?

Soon after the attacks started on Friday, US President Donald Trump urged Iran to make a deal with the United States to impose fresh restrictions on its nuclear program "before there is nothing left". Talks scheduled for June 15 were called off.