Iran vows to rebuild if nuclear sites hit

Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian says if the enemies strike Iran's nuclear facilities, the country's youth will be ready to simply rebuild.

"They threaten us by hitting our nuclear centers. But you cannot destroy the brains of our children," Pezeshkian said during a speech in Bushehr, home to one of Iran’s biggest nuclear plants.

"If you hit 100 nuclear centers, our children will build a thousand other ones," he said, addressing Iran's enemies. 

US President Donald Trump raised the possibility of Israel hitting Iran in an interview saying he would prefer to make a deal with Iran.

Pezeshkian visited the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in southern Iran, authorizing operations at Units 2 and 3 of the facility, the Islamic Republic’s sole nuclear power plant. 

He toured various sections of the first Unit of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, including its control room and turbine, where plant managers and experts briefed him on the details of the plant’s operations, electricity production, and power transmission to the grid.

He also visited the construction sites of Units 2 and 3 of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and, at the end of the tour, ordered the installation of the first key equipment component for Unit 2’s reactor building to enhance safety standards, along with the excavation of pump house buildings for both units.

The first phase of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, currently operating at a capacity of 1,015 megawatts, has generated 72 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity over 11 years since its commissioning. This has prevented the consumption of 114 million barrels of crude oil, saving over $8 billion in fossil fuel costs.

Besides recovering an investment equivalent to four times the plant's construction cost, its operation has also facilitated the training of specialized personnel and the expansion of clean and sustainable energy production.

Units 2 and 3 of the power plant each have a nominal production capacity of 1,057 megawatts.