VIENNA — Israel’s strikes on Iran have targeted several of its nuclear facilities, as it claims the Islamic republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons — an accusation Tehran denies.

Experts told AFP that while the attacks have caused some damage to Iran’s nuclear programme, they are unlikely to have delivered a fatal blow.

Israel’s operation included strikes on Iran’s underground uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, and on its Isfahan nuclear site, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, citing Iranian officials.

A key, above-ground component of Iran’s Natanz nuclear site has been destroyed, including its power infrastructure.

Agency chief Rafael Grossi said today that there has been “no indication of a physical attack on the underground cascade hall containing part of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the main Fuel Enrichment Plant”.

However, power loss at the cascade hall “may have damaged the centrifuges”, the machines used to enrich uranium.

There was “extensive” damage to the site’s power supply, according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based organisation specialising in nuclear proliferation, which analysed satellite images.