Iran says its nuclear facility at Natanz has been attacked again
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has said the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in Iran has suffered “some recent damage” as US-Israeli attacks on the country continue. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the damage was confined to entrance buildings to the underground fuel enrichment plant.
Also on the programme: a weight loss drug is now off patent in India meaning prices are expected to drop sharply; and the Australian teens grappling with the country's social media ban.
(Photo: Satellite imagery taken in January 2026 showing a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Natanz nuclear site, Iran. Credit: Planet Labs PBC/via Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the World Service of the BBC, coming live from London. |
| 0:16.2 | This is Owen Bennett Jones. President Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that other countries have ignored |
| 0:22.5 | his calls for them to send ships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively |
| 0:28.4 | closed. And now in the latest of a series of conflicting messages, he says the US is considering |
| 0:34.4 | winding down its military campaign, but still wants other nations to |
| 0:39.2 | guard the strait. And he told reporters he didn't want a ceasefire. |
| 0:44.2 | I don't want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don't do a ceasefire when you're literally |
| 0:48.3 | obliterating the other side. They don't have a Navy. They don't have an Air Force. They |
| 0:53.1 | don't have any equipment. They don't have any spot Force. They don't have any equipment to, they don't have any spotters. They don't have anti-aircraft. They don't have radar. And their leaders have all been killed at every level. We're not looking to do that. |
| 1:04.9 | But they are managing to close the strait of Hormuz. And Iran's reaction to the U to the US and Israeli attack has basically focused attention |
| 1:11.9 | on the strait could because opening it is the key to diffusing global oil price rises. |
| 1:19.2 | A pressure on the US to reopen the strait is building at the same time. |
| 1:22.9 | The attacks on Iran continue and Tehran says its nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz has been hit again. |
| 1:30.5 | The official Iranian news agency said there was no radiation leakage. Well, Phillips O'Brien is |
| 1:36.0 | Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews, that's in Scotland. And he's just |
| 1:39.9 | written a book, War and Power, Who Wins Wars and Why? Which seems very relevant to this current |
| 1:45.7 | situation, so we'll be consulting him on that in a moment. But just first, let's talk with |
| 1:50.5 | Ali Vez from the International Crisis Group, ICG, who joins us live now. Can you just sort of fill |
| 1:56.5 | us in on what's at Natanz. Why is it important? |
| 2:06.7 | It's good to be with you. Well, Natanz was Iran's biggest nuclear enrichment site, but was bombed heavily in the 12-day War of 2025, and almost everything that was on the ground |
| 2:12.9 | was destroyed. We don't have a good sense of how much of the underground facilities were damaged |
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