Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state television confirms

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on Thursday, June 19 that that Iran’s heavy water reactor, which was under construction, was hit but said that the agency has no proof if Iran’s heavy water plant itself was hit.Iranian state television had reported earlier in the day that Israel has attacked the heavy water reactor. “It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects. At present, IAEA has no information indicating the Khondab heavy water plant was hit,” it wrote on social media platform X.

IAEA has information the Khondab (former Arak) heavy water research reactor, under construction, was hit. It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects.

At present, IAEA has no information indicating the Khondab heavy water plant was hit.

— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) June 19, 2025

This came after Israel’s military warned people earlier to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.
The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle, like other warnings that preceded strikes.The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.

Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.

Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.

In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the US, which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal.

IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14 and the agency had been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.