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Netanyahu Rebuffs IAEA Chief’s Remarks against Possible Attack on Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem , 05 March 2023. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem , 05 March 2023. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Rebuffs IAEA Chief’s Remarks against Possible Attack on Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem , 05 March 2023. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem , 05 March 2023. (EPA)

Israel rebuffed as "unworthy" on Sunday comments by the UN nuclear watchdog chief that any Israeli or US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be illegal.

Having visited Tehran in a bid to loosen deadlocked talks on renewing its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency chairman Raphael Grossi on Saturday said "any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed".

He was responding to a reporter's question about threats by Israel and the United States to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if they deem diplomacy meant to deny it the bomb to be at a dead end. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

"Rafael Grossi is a worthy person who made an unworthy remark," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks on Sunday.

"Outside what law? Is it permissible for Iran, which openly calls for our destruction, to organize the tools of slaughter for our destruction? Are we forbidden from defending ourselves? We are obviously permitted to do this."

The IAEA said on Saturday Grossi had received sweeping assurances from Iran that it will assist a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and re-install removed monitoring equipment.

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Iran Attack on Qatar Air Base Hit Geodesic Dome Used for US Communications, Satellite Photos Show

This handout photo from the US Air Force shows Lt. Col. Carlos Alford, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron commander, in front of the Modernized Enterprise Terminal at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Jan. 21, 2016. (Master Sgt. Joshua Strang/U.S. Air Force via AP)
This handout photo from the US Air Force shows Lt. Col. Carlos Alford, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron commander, in front of the Modernized Enterprise Terminal at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Jan. 21, 2016. (Master Sgt. Joshua Strang/U.S. Air Force via AP)
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Iran Attack on Qatar Air Base Hit Geodesic Dome Used for US Communications, Satellite Photos Show

This handout photo from the US Air Force shows Lt. Col. Carlos Alford, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron commander, in front of the Modernized Enterprise Terminal at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Jan. 21, 2016. (Master Sgt. Joshua Strang/U.S. Air Force via AP)
This handout photo from the US Air Force shows Lt. Col. Carlos Alford, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron commander, in front of the Modernized Enterprise Terminal at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Jan. 21, 2016. (Master Sgt. Joshua Strang/U.S. Air Force via AP)

An Iranian attack on an air base in Qatar that's key to the US military hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show.

Hours after the publication of this AP report, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell acknowledged that an Iranian ballistic missile had hit the dome. Qatar did not respond to requests for comment about the damage.

The Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, Qatar's capital, on June 23 came as a response to the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran — and provided Iran a way to retaliate that quickly led to a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

The Iranian attack otherwise did little damage — likely because of the fact that the US evacuated its aircraft from the base, which is home to the forward headquarters of the US military's Central Command, before the attack.

Trump also has said that Iran signaled when and how it would retaliate, allowing American and Qatari air defense to be ready for the attack, which briefly disrupted air travel in the Middle East, but otherwise didn't tip over into the regional war long feared by analysts.

Images show burn marks, dome gone after attack

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome visible at the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, just hours before the attack.

The US Air Force's 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates out of the base, announced in 2016 the installation of the $15 million piece of equipment, known as a modernized enterprise terminal. Photos show a satellite dish inside of the dome, known as a radome.

Images taken June 25 and every day subsequently show the dome is gone, with some damage visible on a nearby building. The rest of the base appears largely untouched in the images.