Iran Says Attack on Nuclear Sites Improbable

People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
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Iran Says Attack on Nuclear Sites Improbable

People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)
People pass by an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's missile attack on Israel with a sentence reading in Persian “If you want war, we are the master of war”, at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. (EPA)

The probability of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low but any potential damage would be "quickly compensated", state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Wednesday, according to semi-official Nournews.

After Iran's missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1, there has been speculation that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities, as it has long threatened to do.

"We have always taken these threats seriously," Kamalvandi said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel would listen to the United States but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.

The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets.

Biden has said he would not support an attack on Iran's nuclear sites and oil markets have been on edge over the prospect of an Israeli strike against Iranian oil fields.

Kamalvandi told Nournews that any attack on Iran's nuclear sites remained improbable and that if this happened, the damage was likely to be minimal and quickly repaired by Iran.

"We have planned in a way that if they commit any stupidity, the damages would be minimal," Kamalvandi said.

The Iranian spokesperson added that the UN nuclear watchdog and the international community should condemn any threat or attack on nuclear sites.



EU Countries Contributing to UNIFIL See Mission as 'Essential and Fundamental', Spanish Minister

A joint force from UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in Naqoura near the Israeli border (File  - AFP)
A joint force from UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in Naqoura near the Israeli border (File - AFP)
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EU Countries Contributing to UNIFIL See Mission as 'Essential and Fundamental', Spanish Minister

A joint force from UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in Naqoura near the Israeli border (File  - AFP)
A joint force from UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in Naqoura near the Israeli border (File - AFP)

The EU countries contributing to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, dubbed as UNIFIL, say it is "essential and fundamental" and only the UN can decide whether to end it, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday after a video call with 15 of her counterparts, Reuters reported.

"All the countries that are part of it are firmly supporting the UNIFIL mission, our soldiers, our people who are there," she said in a video statement sent to reporters.

EU countries, led by Italy, France and Spain, have thousands of troops in the 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, which has said it has repeatedly come under attack from Israeli forces in recent days. Israel has called on the United Nations to move the troops out of the combat zone.