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Iran heavy water plant 'damaged' after Israeli strike, says IAEA

March 31, 2026 00:00:00


A blaze after Israel's Fire and Rescue Service said that an industrial building and a fuel tanker at Israel's Oil Refineries were hit by debris from an intercepted Iranian missile in Haifa area of Israel on Monday — Reuters

GENEVA, Mar 30 (AFP/Reuters): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday that Iran's heavy water production plant in Khondab was no longer operational after an Israeli military strike.

The Israeli military said Friday it carried out a strike against a heavy water plant in Arak, central Iran, describing the site as a "key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons".

On Sunday, IAEA said based on an independent analysis of satellite imagery the heavy water production plant at Khondab, which Iran reported had been attacked on 27 March, had "sustained severe damaged (sic) and is no longer operational".

It added the "installation contains no declared nuclear material".

Sisi says only Trump can stop

war, warns oil could top $200

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to stop the Iran war, saying only he could do so, and warned that fears of the oil price going above $200 a barrel were not exaggerated.

"I tell President Trump: nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you," Sisi said at the Egypt Energy Show 2026 conference in Cairo. "Please, Mr. President, please. Please help us stop the war. You are capable of doing so," he added.

Egypt, long a recipient of U.S. military aid and support from wealthy Gulf countries, has also condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab states and pushed diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider regional war.

The war will trigger twin shocks of supply shortages and price rises, the full extent of which have yet to be felt, Sisi told the conference.

"I fear that targeting energy facilities, whether production or refineries, will have very serious repercussions for the global economy and fuel prices," he said. Market watchers had warned "the price of a barrel of oil could reach more than $200, and this is not an exaggeration," he added.

Sisi also warned of a looming crisis for global food supplies, noting that disruptions to fertilizer exports will have a massive impact on prices.

"Wealthy countries might be able to absorb this, but for middle-income and fragile economies, it could have a very, very severe impact on their stability," he said.

Egypt and Israel have had diplomatic relations since a 1979 peace treaty that returned the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured in the 1967 war. However, the relationship is often termed a cold peace, and Cairo has long been wary that Palestinians could be forced from Gaza across its border.

Sisi credited Trump with ending the war in Gaza, noting that he had also said only the U.S. president could stop that conflict before a ceasefire agreement was signed in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

Saudi Arabia intercepts

five ballistic missiles

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces detected and intercepted five ballistic missiles aimed at the kingdom's Eastern Province.

The brief statement posted on X did not specify where the missiles originated.

Since the Middle East war erupted at the end of February, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been regularly targeted by Iranian missile and drone strikes in retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign, now in its second month.

Strike hits Beirut's southern

suburbs after Israeli warning

A strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, AFPTV footage showed, after Israel issued a warning for people in the Hezbollah stronghold to leave.


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