Officials at the World Health Organisation have reportedly acknowledged that they are preparing for a “worst case scenario” nuclear catastrophe if the war between US-Israel and Iran escalates further.
The United Nations officials are monitoring the developments in the US-Israel and Iran conflict, especially the strikes by Tel Aviv and Washington on Tehran’s atomic sites and remain “vigilant” for any type of nuclear incident, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, Hanan Balkhy, told Politico.
In an interview, Balkhy said, “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most.”
The WHO’s regional director added, “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come…the region’s way and globally if this eventually happens and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Earlier, US President Donald Trump threatened to “eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime” but didn’t provide any evidence whether Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon.
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Balkhy said that UN staff are prepared for any nuclear incident amid the conflict in West Asia in its “broader sense,” including the usage of nuclear weapons or an attack on a nuclear facility. “We are thinking about it, and we’re just really hoping that it does not happen,” she added.
In June last year, US in coordination with Israel struck nuclear infrastructure across Iran and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran had confirmed that strikes hit Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz sites. Washington and Tel Aviv have been targeting Iran’s nuclear sites since the war broke out on February 28.
When the US military launched Operation Epic Fury, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine listed out the goal of the operation which included eliminating Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon, echoing President Trump’s stance.
