Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation stated that several projectiles hit the Darkhovin nuclear power plant construction site in southwestern Khuzestan province at approximately 03:39 local time on 19 July. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that it had opened an investigation, saying the installation was “in the early stages of construction” and, at the time of its last inspection, “did not contain nuclear material.” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi assessed that the strike “poses no radiological risk” and repeated his call for military restraint near all nuclear-related sites.

Condemning the strike as a “flagrant crime against international law,” the Iranian organisation described the facility as a symbol of the country’s scientific self-sufficiency and stated the aggression would only strengthen the resolve of its nuclear specialists. Construction of the Darkhovin plant began in 2022 as a wholly Iranian project, though earlier French-backed efforts in the 1970s and Chinese investment pledges in the 1990s were abandoned following the 1979 revolution and subsequent sanctions. The site, on the Karun River, was intended to house a 360-megawatt reactor and had no timetable for completion beyond initial 2030 estimates.

The attack came amid an escalating cycle of direct US-Iranian military exchanges that has rendered a Pakistan-brokered memorandum of understanding, signed in June, effectively void. Washington, which has launched strikes on Iran since 8 July, said it was acting to further degrade Iranian military capability. Tehran announced on 19 July that it was suspending its commitments under the temporary memorandum, with Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi declaring that Iran would no longer abide by the accord. The same morning, Iranian forces launched what they described as the seventeenth phase of Operation Lightning, targeting US military warehouses and personnel at bases in Kuwait and Bahrain; Kuwaiti authorities said strikes instead hit the country’s main desalination plant and adjacent power station, causing a fire and injuries.

From Tehran, the attack on a safeguarded facility is portrayed as proof of Washington’s readiness to disregard international norms, with the Iranian foreign ministry characterising US behaviour as reminiscent of terrorist groups. Western capitals and the IAEA, however, stress that repeated military activity near nuclear installations risks eroding the non-proliferation architecture, even where no radioactive release occurs. The IAEA is in contact with Iran and says it will provide further information as it becomes available; no damage assessment has been released and US Central Command has not commented on the strike.