Israeli fighter jets carried out a premeditated and direct strike on Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor on June 19, targeting the facility’s core components in a bid to permanently cripple its ability to produce plutonium. The attack, confirmed by both Israeli military and Iranian state media, is part of a broader strategy by Israel to dismantle what it views as Iran’s covert nuclear weapons programme—a campaign intensifying over the past seven days of missile warfare.
The Arak bombing occurred just hours after an Iranian ballistic missile struck Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel, causing significant infrastructural damage and sending shockwaves through the global diplomatic community. While casualties were limited due to emergency evacuations, the symbolic impact of a hospital being struck in wartime triggered Israel’s most aggressive aerial retaliation in recent years.
The Arak strike, aimed at denying Iran a plutonium-based path to nuclear armament, marks a chilling escalation that may render the 2015 Iran nuclear accord a relic of the past, and pushes the region closer than ever to a full-blown war involving multiple state and non-state actors.
The Arak Heavy Water Reactor, located approximately 280 km southwest of Tehran, has long been viewed by Western and Israeli intelligence as one of Iran’s most dangerous nuclear facilities due to its potential to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Unlike uranium enrichment which Iran has admitted to pursuing up to 60 per cent purity the Arak reactor offers an alternative route to nuclear weapons without the need to enrich uranium to 90 per cent weapons-grade.
Heavy water (deuterium oxide) used in the reactor slows down neutrons, enabling the use of natural uranium as fuel. This process produces plutonium-239, a fissile material that can be extracted and used for nuclear warheads. This is the very route that countries like India and North Korea have used in their early nuclear weapons programmes.
Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) issued a formal statement declaring, “The IDF conducted a strategic strike on the Arak heavy water reactor facility targeting critical components designed for plutonium production. This preemptive action is meant to deny Iran the ability to restore and operate the reactor for weapons-grade plutonium generation.”
Iran began secretly developing the Arak reactor in 2003, following years of rejection by international nuclear suppliers. The project continued quietly until it became a major point of contention during negotiations leading up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers (the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany).
Under that agreement, Iran consented to redesign the reactor, pour concrete into the original core, and drastically reduce plutonium production. The redesign was to be facilitated with technical assistance from the UK and China, even as the US later unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.
In 2019, Iran announced it had activated the secondary circuit of the Arak reactor—while still claiming to comply with JCPOA’s core terms. This action, although not technically a violation, alarmed international monitors, particularly as transparency around inspections dwindled after the US withdrawal and reimposition of sanctions.
Reports from security think tanks, including the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) and Politico, have highlighted foreign involvement in Arak’s development, particularly from Russia and North Korean advisors, deepening suspicion that Tehran may be maintaining dual-use nuclear capability.
Early Thursday morning, the IDF released a warning on social media platforms and via cyber broadcast channels in Farsi, urging civilians in Arak to evacuate, stating that military infrastructure would be targeted imminently. Satellite data confirms that Israeli F-35I Adir stealth fighters penetrated Iranian airspace from the northwestern corridor, evading Russian-supplied S-300 and indigenous Bavar-373 air defence systems.
Multiple precision-guided munitions were dropped on the reactor’s core building, as well as its auxiliary water processing units. Iranian air defences activated, but reportedly failed to intercept all incoming projectiles. State television later confirmed damage, stating, “The site was evacuated earlier. There is no radiation danger whatsoever. No casualties reported. Investigations are ongoing.”
Independent observers, however, suggest that the reactor’s inner containment vessel and cooling systems have sustained irreversible damage, delaying any further plutonium-related operations by years, if not longer.
The strike comes amid a seven-day cycle of tit-for-tat missile attacks that has included the Iranian bombing of an Israeli hospital, the Israeli assassination of IRGC officials, and repeated Iranian ballistic missile launches on Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Be’er Sheva.
With the world’s attention shifting to the open conflict, Israel’s preemptive military doctrine—first invoked during the 1981 bombing of Iraq’s Osirak reactor and again in 2007 in Syria—has come back into play. Security analysts argue that Arak was targeted now to prevent Iran from using the chaos of war to restart or conceal nuclear activity.
“This is not just retaliation. It is strategic containment. Israel is ensuring that even if war continues, Iran cannot walk away from this conflict with nuclear leverage,” said Colonel (Retd.) Daniel Rahav, a former IDF intelligence officer.
Iranian officials condemned the strike but attempted to downplay its significance, calling the Arak facility “non-operational” and accusing Israel of violating international law. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a live broadcast: “This aggression will not go unanswered. We will teach the Zionist regime a lesson it will not forget.”
There are indications that Iran may activate its regional proxy networks—particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shia militias in Iraq—to create a multi-front response against Israel and potentially the US, which Iran suspects of complicity.
The IAEA and UN nuclear watchdogs have expressed “grave concern” over the targeting of a nuclear site, regardless of intent. European Union officials have reiterated calls for “maximum restraint” but failed to mount any cohesive diplomatic initiative.
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