Iran war: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday that Iran had reported that a missile had hit the Bushehr nuclear power plant. According to Iran, there was no damage to the equipment, no injuries to personnel, and the operation of the plant remains normal.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stressed the need for maximum restraint to avoid any risk to nuclear safety amid the ongoing conflict.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, meanwhile, said the US and Israel attacked the vicinity of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday evening, IRNA reported.
Bushehr, Iran’s long-sought project – Why does it matter?
In the 1970s, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran unveiled plans to build 23 nuclear reactors and gain full control over the nuclear fuel cycle, potentially allowing the country to develop atomic weapons, according to an Associated Press report.
This alarmed US officials, who subsequently restricted the sale of nuclear equipment to Iran by US companies. As part of a $4.8 billion deal for four reactors, the German company Kraftwerk Union began building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr in 1975.
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According to the World Nuclear Association report, Unit 1 (Bushehr-1) is a VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) of Russian design with a net output of 915 MW (gross around 1000 MW). The unit supplies electricity to Iran’s national grid and usually operates at near full capacity.
The original construction was halted after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The site was damaged by Iraqi bombings during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
A nuclear site always under the radar
During the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Iraq repeatedly bombed the Bushehr compound in an attempt to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Russia eventually took over the project and completed the plant, which was connected to Iran’s national grid in 2011.
The facility operates a pressurized water reactor capable of producing up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and industries. Despite this capacity, Bushehr accounts for only about 1% to 2% of Iran’s total electricity supply, the AP reported.
Iran is trying to expand Bushehr to more reactors.
In 2019, it launched a project that eventually plans to add two more reactors to the site, each adding an additional 1,000 megawatts apiece. A December satellite image from PBC’s Planet Labs showed construction at the site still underway, with cranes looming over both sites.
TOPSHOT – (COMBO) This combination of distributed satellite imagery provided by Vantor shows views of the Bushehr naval base in southern Iran along the Persian Gulf on (top) Feb. 27 and (bottom) March 7, 2026, after the airstrikes. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, prompting swift retaliation from the Islamic Republic, which responded with missile strikes across the region. The war has drawn in global powers, upended the world’s energy and transportation sectors, and brought chaos even to normally peaceful areas of the volatile region. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, prompting swift retaliation from the Islamic Republic, which responded with missile strikes across the region. The war has drawn in global powers, upended the world’s energy and transportation sectors, and brought chaos even to normally peaceful areas of the volatile region. (Photo from satellite image ©2026 Vantor / AFP) (AFP)
The reactor currently running in Bushehr uses uranium from Russia enriched to 4.5%, the low level needed to produce power in such plants.
Bushehr, as a functioning civilian nuclear power plant, remained untouched during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.
During this war, the US bombed three of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites, destroying centrifuges and presumably trapping Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched 60% uranium underground. Since then, Iran has blocked IAEA inspectors from visiting these sites.
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A strike at a nuclear power plant could potentially release radiation into the environment, a concern that has been growing since a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. During this conflict, Ukrainian nuclear facilities, many built during the Soviet era, were targeted and placed on the front lines.
A similar release of radiation into the Persian Gulf would pose a catastrophic threat to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, which are heavily dependent on fresh water supplies from desalination plants in the Gulf.
Iran is important to Russia – why?
Iran occupies a key position in Moscow’s Middle East strategy due to its geostrategic location and access to the Indian Ocean. The Soviet-Iranian relationship has historically experienced cycles of cooperation and tension, underpinned by mutual mistrust, the ORF report said.
After the Cold War, conditions allowed for improved ties.
In 1992, Russia and Iran signed a civilian nuclear agreement to expand cooperation in nuclear energy, with Moscow training Iranian scientists and helping to build a heavy-water nuclear power plant, although progress was limited by UN sanctions.
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In 2000, Russia, Iran and India agreed to create a multimodal network of sea, road and rail routes to enhance regional connectivity.
As Russia’s relations with the West deteriorated, it developed closer ties with Iran, particularly in military-technical cooperation. Tehran exported mortars, ammunition and drones, including the Shahed 131/136 and Mohajer models, and shared technology with Moscow for domestic production.
In return, Russia has reportedly agreed to supply 48 Su-35 fighter jets and has already provided Iran with Yak-130 trainer aircraft and MiG-29 fighters.
How big is Iran’s stockpile of missiles and drones?
Before the war, Iran had the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, according to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The arsenal included a variety of missiles, some with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), putting Israel within range, and speeds of up to 17,000 km/h (10,550 mph), according to Iranian state media. Some of the rockets fired at Israel carried cluster munition warheads, which are more difficult for Israel’s missile defense systems to intercept, according to the Associated Press.
The size of its stockpile of rockets before the war was unknown, with estimates ranging from 2,500 by the Israeli military to around 6,000 by other analysts.
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The Arms Control Association says Iran’s missile program is largely based on North Korean and Russian designs and has benefited from Chinese assistance.
Many of Iran’s missile sites are in and around Tehran. There are at least five known underground “missile cities” in various provinces, including Kermanshah and Semnan, as well as near the Persian Gulf region.
Iran is also a major producer of drones and has the industrial capacity to produce around 10,000 a month, according to the Center for Information Resilience, a non-profit research group funded by Britain’s Foreign Office.
It pioneered the Shahed drone, a much cheaper alternative to expensive missiles, and sold large numbers of them to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.
(With input from agencies)
