A strike on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could trigger a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl, the head of Russia's state atomic agency has warned. Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev sounded the alarm following reports that Israeli forces targeted the facility - Iran's only operational nuclear power station - located on the Gulf coast.

An Israeli military official initially said the facility had been targeted - but another later said claimed it had been "a mistake" to make the claim. The official confirmed only that Israel had struck the Natanz, Isfahan and Arak nuclear sites - and declined to confirm or deny any attack on Bushehr itself. The Kremlin has not yet issued a formal response in light of the reported attack where Russian employees are working.

This came as, on Thursday, defence minister Israel Katz appeared to threaten Ayatollah Ali Khamemei himself following the attacks on the Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba. Posting on X, he said: "The cowardly Iranian dictator sits deep in his fortified bunker and fires targeted shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel. These are war crimes of the most serious kind - and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes. The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran."

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