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Russia has begun evacuating personnel from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant following a strike near the facility, Russian state media reported on Saturday.
According to reports, the evacuation involved 198 Russian workers, marking the third such operation from the plant, which was constructed with Russian assistance.
Around 100 Russian staff are said to remain at the site.
Head of Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, said the evacuation had been planned but was accelerated shortly after the latest strike.
He said buses carrying evacuees departed for the Iranian-Armenian border shortly after the incident, describing the operation as the largest evacuation from the site so far.
“As planned, we began the main phase of the evacuation today.
“About 20 minutes after that ill-fated strike, buses set off from Bushehr station towards the Iranian-Armenian border (with) 198 people, to be precise — this is the largest evacuation,” he added.
Likhachev also stated that Russia had informed both the United States and Israel about the evacuation process.
He warned that the risk of damage to the facility and a potential nuclear incident was increasing due to continued attacks, adding that only essential personnel would remain at Bushehr going forward.
Russia’s foreign ministry also condemned the strike, describing it as unacceptable and calling for an immediate halt to attacks on Iranian nuclear infrastructure.
The area around Bushehr, located on Iran’s southern Gulf coast, has reportedly come under attack multiple times during the ongoing conflict.
Iranian state media said the latest strike killed a security guard but did not damage the nuclear facility itself.
