Iran-Israel War: Attacks Escalate, Nuclear Sites Targeted (March 2026)
Iran reported that its Natanz nuclear facility was struck by the United States and Israel on Saturday, March 21, 2026, according to a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency. The attack targeted the Natanz enrichment complex, a key uranium enrichment site located approximately 220 kilometers southeast of Tehran.
The Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation stated that there was no leakage of radioactive materials reported at the Shahid Ahmadi Roshan enrichment facility. Iranian officials, as quoted by Tasnim, also indicated no danger to the population living near the facility.
The reported strike comes after a series of escalating exchanges between Iran and Israel, which began three weeks prior. On Saturday evening, dozens of people were reportedly injured by Iranian rocket attacks on Israel, with one kindergarten in Rishon Lezion, southeast of Tel Aviv, sustaining a direct hit while unoccupied. A ten-year-old boy and a woman were moderately injured in Dimona, a city in southern Israel, after a rocket struck, causing a building to collapse. Around 60 people were injured in Arad, another Negev desert city, with seven sustaining serious injuries, including a four-year-old girl.
The Natanz facility was also targeted during a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, according to Al Jazeera.
The United States reportedly used “bunker buster” bombs to target the Natanz site, according to sources cited by the Times of Israel. In June 2025, the US dropped more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on the Fordo and Natanz underground nuclear facilities.
The White House has stated that a primary goal of the current conflict is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Israel views Iran’s nuclear and missile programs as an existential threat, with Iranian politicians having previously threatened the destruction of Israel.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for military restraint from both sides, urging them to avoid any risk of an accident involving nuclear materials. The IAEA confirmed it had been informed of the attack by Iran and reported no elevated radiation levels. Earlier in March, the IAEA had already confirmed modern damage to entrance buildings at the Natanz underground uranium enrichment facility.
Russia condemned the attacks on the Natanz nuclear facility, calling for an “objective and uncompromising assessment” of the actions. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated the attacks posed a “real danger of a catastrophe” in the Middle East and aimed to undermine peace and stability in the region.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Israel and the US would intensify attacks on Iran in the coming days, targeting Iranian leadership and supporting infrastructure.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it had analyzed the “vulnerable points of the enemy” and was preparing a new wave of attacks using “new strategies and more modern systems.”
The US military reported that its attacks had “restricted” Iran’s capabilities for armed operations in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting an underground facility storing cruise missiles and other weapons. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, stated that several 5,000-pound bombs were dropped on the facility, along with “intelligence sites and missile radar stations” used to monitor shipping.
In a separate incident, an Iraqi officer was killed in an attack on the National Intelligence Service headquarters in Baghdad. The incident is being investigated as a potential attempt to disrupt the intelligence service’s operations. Bahrain was also reportedly targeted by rocket attacks, with explosions heard in the capital, Manama.