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Satellite images show a strike between July 7 and 12 at Iran’s largest nuclear power plant.
Published on 17 Jul 2026
Satellite images show new damage inside Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant following the latest US airstrike in a renewed escalation of hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
A comparison of the European Sentinel-2 satellite images taken on July 7 and July 12 shows the newly formed scars inside the Bushehr complex, as well as other visible areas near the aid station.
The open team of Al Jazeera Network produced satellite images, field images and official information from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to describe the areas where the US struck Iran between July 7 and July 15.
Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr province, said on July 9 that several areas in the province have been affected, including areas around the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the military base in Choghadak and the fishing port in the south of the province. Iran’s news agency IRNA.
Jahanian later denied reports that the nuclear reactor itself had been hit, saying the reactor was not affected and was still working properly.
The strike came during a major U.S. military operation against Iran. US Central Command (CENTCOM) it said it hit 90 military targets on July 7-8, including anti-aircraft defenses, military and drone depots, weapons and military equipment along Iran’s southern coast.
The US has not identified Bushr or any nuclear sites among the declared targets.
Iran’s only nuclear power plant
Bushhr is Iran’s only nuclear power plant. Located about 17km (11 miles) south of the city of Bushehr, the 2.5-square-kilometer (one-square-mile) site also includes nuclear reactor buildings, cooling water canals connected to the sea, a conference center and a port used to receive nuclear materials and equipment.
The facility has two reactor buildings, one operational and one that has been unfinished for years.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), Bushehr-1 has an electrical capacity of about 915 megawatts.
It was first connected to Iran’s electricity grid in September 2011 before going offline in September 2013.
Unlike uranium processing plants such as Natanz or Fordow, the Bushehr power plant has nuclear fuel and radioactive materials associated with power generation, making any damage to its cooling, power or storage equipment extremely difficult.
Past events
The July strike was not the first reported to have taken place near a Bushhr plant in 2026.
The IAEA activity reports the information provided by Iran’s nuclear watchdog documented several incidents, including projectiles that hit inside the plant on March 17, March 24 and March 27, as well as other impacts near the fence around the first stage of the reactor on April 4. Each time, Iranian officials reported that the reactor continued to operate properly and that no damage to the reactor itself was recorded.
The IAEA has repeatedly emphasized that nuclear weapons should not be the target of military weapons because of the possible consequences for people, the environment and nuclear security in the region.
