MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The risk of a nuclear incident is on the rise following a U.S.-Israeli strike near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom said Saturday.
Iran confirmed that a projectile hit near the country's only operating nuclear power plant on Saturday, killing one security worker and marking the fourth such attack since the war began.
Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said it remains unclear whether the strike was accidental or deliberate, warning that the situation around the plant is developing toward a worst-case scenario.
He added that Rosatom has begun evacuating its personnel from the plant, transporting staff by bus to the Iranian-Armenian border for their return to Russia via Armenia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Saturday's strike, noting that the situation at Bushehr is "increasingly approaching a dangerous point."
"The worst can still be avoided, but to achieve this, strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, must cease immediately," she said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency called for maximum military restraint to avoid the "risk of a nuclear accident," noting that there was "no increase in radiation levels" after Saturday's attack. ■
