Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility: The United States and Israel launched a fresh strike on Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Facility, one of the country’s key uranium-enrichment sites. An ANI report, citing Iranian State Media Tasnim news agency, however, said that no radioactive leaks had been detected following the attack and that residents living near the facility were not at risk.
Natanz Nuclear Facility repeatedly targeted
Natanz Nuclear Facility, one of Iran’s most significant nuclear sites, has been repeatedly targeted amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.
It was also one of the primary targets during the June 2025 Israel-Iran 12-day war, when Israeli forces launched a series of strikes on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure. The United States later joined that conflict in support of Israel, the report said.
The latest strike comes as hostilities between the two sides continue, with both countries carrying out attacks on strategic infrastructure and military facilities.
According to CNN, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told the news platform that it was not “familiar with any IDF attack on that facility.”
This is the second time the facility has come under attack since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, CNN reported.
Earlier, CBS News reported on Friday (local time), citing sources briefed on the discussions, that the Trump administration has been strategising ways and options to extract Iran’s nuclear material.
According to CBS News, while the timing of any such operation, if Trump orders it, remains unclear, one of the sources said that the US President has yet to make a decision about it. However, plans have centred around the possible deployment of forces from the secretive Joint Special Operations Command- America’s elite military unit often tasked with the most sensitive counter-proliferation missions, according to two sources to CBS News.
CBS News reported that as of last summer, Iran had amassed about 972 pounds of 60 per cent-enriched uranium, which is a short step away from weapons-grade material, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. It added that much of that uranium remains buried underneath nuclear sites that were bombed by the US last year as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
While US officials have said that the Trump administration has not ruled out plans to retrieve Iranian stockpiles, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week that “it’s an option on the table for him.”
US issued 30-day sanctions waiver for Iranian oil buy
Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Friday issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for the purchase of Iranian oil already at sea, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The waiver applies to oil loaded on any vessel, including sanctioned tankers, on or before March 20 and discharged by April 19, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is the third time the US has temporarily waived sanctions on oil since the start of the war.
About 170 million barrels of Iranian crude are at sea, said Emmanuel Belostrino, Kpler’s senior manager for crude oil market data, on ships scattered from the Middle East Gulf to the waters near China.
Consultancy Energy Aspects on March 19 estimated 130 million to 140 million barrels of Iranian oil on water, equivalent to less than 14 days of current Middle East production losses.
(With inputs from ANI and Reuters)
