‘Incident’ damages construction near Iran nuclear site

Tehran: An incident has damaged an under-construction building near Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, but there was no damage to its centrifuge facility, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Behrouz Kamalvandi made the comment in a report published by the state-run IRNA news agency.

He said authorities were investigating what happened.

Kamalvandi called the affected building an industrial shed,” without elaborating.

There hasn’t been any previously announced construction work at Natanz, a uranium enrichment centre some 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of the capital, Tehran. Natanz includes underground facilities buried under some 7.6 metres (25 feet) of concrete, which offer protection from airstrikes.

Natanz is among the sites now monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency after Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the incident.