The IDF attack on the heavy water reactor comes after the military called for residents of nearby Arak to evacuate ahead of imminent strikes on regime military infrastructure.

Israel attacked Iran’s Khandab heavy water reactor in Arak, as well as the uranium enrichment facility at Ardakan, on Friday, the IDF confirmed.

Earlier Iranian state media reports noted that the enrichment facility produced yellowcake, a concentrated uranium powder used in the early stages of nuclear fuel production.

A government official told the Islamic Republic’s semi-official Fars News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), that no casualties occured in the reported attack on the heavy water reactor, and that there is no danger to the local population. Fars reported that the facility was struck twice.

"Heavy water is a unique material used to operate nuclear reactors, such as the inactive Arak reactor, which was originally designed to have weapons-grade plutonium production capabilities," the IDF said. "These materials can also be used as a neutron source for nuclear weapons."

The military added that the facility, which was hit during the June 2025 war between Israel and Iran, was also a "significant economic asset" for the Iranian regime and generated tens of millions of dollars for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization.

According to the military, Iran worked to rebuild the facility after it was struck nine months ago. It added that the Islamic Republic deliberately avoided a mandate to convert the reactor so that it would not be capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.

Attacks follow call for evacuation

The attack comes after the IDF called for residents of the northwestern Iranian city of Arak to evacuate ahead of imminent strikes on nearby regime military infrastructure.

The heavy water reactor is located a short distance northwest of the municipality of Arak.

The call for evacuation was posted on the IDF's Persian-language X/Twitter account, and included graphics illustrating the targeted areas and evacuation routes.

The post further called for those in the nearby Khairabad industrial zone to evacuate.

Soon thereafter, the IDF announced that it had begun simultaneous attacks on regime infrastructure in three areas of Iran. It did not specify further on the targets of the attacks.

Iranian media claims strikes on Ardakan yellowcake production facility

Shortly after the strikes on the heavy water research reactor, Iranian state media outlets reported attacks on the yellowcake production facility in Ardakan. The IDF later confirmed it struck the site.

Ardakan is a city in Iran's Yazd province, which the IDF had struck previously on Friday, targeting a central site for producing missiles and sea mines.

Iranian state media stated that no radioactive materials had been released in the incident.

"This plant is the only one of its kind in Iran, where raw materials mined from the earth undergo mechanical and chemical processing so that they can later be used as raw materials for uranium enrichment," the IDF said after the attack, adding "The strikes targeted the main infrastructure used for the unique production processes."

IDF strikes chemical weapons research facility

Separately, the military said on Friday that the IDF had earlier hit an Iranian chemical weapons research facility.

The IDF did not clarify if this meant that Iran possessed chemical weapons or whether the Islamic Republic was still at the research stage.

Iran's IRGC vows retaliation

Following the attacks, which Iran asserted were on "industrial centers," the IRGC vowed retaliation on industrial companies in the Middle East that had American shareholders or were aligned with Israel.

It also stated that residents near such companies should evacuate.

"Our fighters are carrying out retaliatory attacks, so we warn all employees of industrial companies in the region that have American shareholders, as well as heavy industries allied with the Zionist regime in the region, to leave their workplaces immediately so that your lives are not endangered," the IRGC stated in a message carried by Fars.