Israeli Strike Directly Hit Iran’s Natanz Underground Enrichment Plant, IAEA Says

 This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Natanz nuclear enrichment site in Iran after an Israeli strike Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Natanz nuclear enrichment site in Iran after an Israeli strike Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Israeli Strike Directly Hit Iran’s Natanz Underground Enrichment Plant, IAEA Says

 This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Natanz nuclear enrichment site in Iran after an Israeli strike Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Natanz nuclear enrichment site in Iran after an Israeli strike Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

An Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear complex at Natanz directly hit the underground uranium enrichment plant there, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday, revising its assessment after initially reporting it had been hit only indirectly.

Since Israel's launched wide-ranging attacks on Iran on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been providing updates on its assessment of the damage to nuclear sites, although it has not been able to carry out inspections.

The IAEA had previously said an above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz was destroyed but the larger underground plant was not directly hit, although IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday its centrifuges had very likely been badly damaged by a strike on the plant's power supply.

However, on Tuesday it said on X: "Based on continued analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery collected after Friday's attacks, the IAEA has identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at Natanz."

It said there was "no change to report" at Iran's two other major nuclear sites, Isfahan and Fordo.

Grossi had said on Monday there was little or no apparent damage at Fordo, where Iran has enriched uranium up to 60%, close to the 90% weapons grade, at a plant dug deep into a mountain.

At the Isfahan nuclear complex, several facilities were destroyed, including Iran's plant that converted uranium into a form into which it could be fed into centrifuges for enrichment, the IAEA has reported.



Jailed PKK Leader Ocalan Says Armed Struggle with Türkiye Over

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a poster of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a spring festival of Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a poster of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a spring festival of Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar/File Photo
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Jailed PKK Leader Ocalan Says Armed Struggle with Türkiye Over

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a poster of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a spring festival of Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a poster of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a spring festival of Newroz celebration in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar/File Photo

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), appeared in a rare online video on Wednesday to declare the group's armed struggle against Türkiye over and called for a full transition to democratic politics.

In the recording, dated June and released by Firat News Agency, which is close to the PKK, Ocalan urged Türkiye's parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage a broader peace process.

"The phase of armed struggle has ended. This is not a loss, but a historic gain," he said. "The armed struggle stage must now be voluntarily replaced by a phase of democratic politics and law."

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades and is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, decided in May to disband after an initial written appeal from Ocalan in February.

Since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 – originally with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state – the conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, imposed a heavy economic burden and fueled deep social and political divisions.

The video marks a rare and potentially pivotal moment in the long-running conflict, offering what could be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most significant opportunity yet to seal a political settlement to the Kurdish issue, should his government choose to respond, Reuters reported.

It also comes before PKK militants begin handing over their weapons in groups in northern Iraq's Sulaymaniyah on Friday, in a major step in the process.

Seated in a beige polo shirt with a glass of water on the table in front of him, Ocalan appeared to read from a transcript in the seven-minute video – the first public footage or audio of him since his arrest in 1999. Six other jailed PKK members sat beside him, all looking directly at the camera.

He said the PKK, which has been based in northern Iraq's mountainous regions in recent years, had ended its separatist agenda.

"The main objective has been achieved – existence has been acknowledged. What remains would be excessive repetition and a dead end," he said.

Ocalan added that Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM Party, the third largest in parliament and which played a key role facilitating the PKK's disarmament decision, should work alongside other political parties to advance the peace process.

The PKK and DEM expect Ankara to address Kurdish political demands, potentially before weapons in Türkiye are handed over.

Ocalan's message came a day after Ibrahim Kalin, head of Türkiye's MIT intelligence agency, visited Baghdad for high-level meetings with Iraqi officials, the agency said. Kalin had earlier visited Erbil in northern Iraq as well.

Talks focused on strengthening border security and steps toward a "terror-free Türkiye," with the Iraqi government voicing full support for joint efforts to eliminate armed groups from the region.