Russia warned Israel that an attack on Bushehr would lead to a Chernobyl-style disaster

(Patria) - The head of Russia's nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a "Chernobyl-style disaster".

A spokesperson for the Israeli military stated that Israel attacked the site, but an Israeli military official later called the statement a "mistake" and said he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr site on the Gulf coast had been hit.

Bushehr is Iran's only operational nuclear power plant, and it was built by Russia, Reuters reports.

President Vladimir Putin told reporters in the early hours of Thursday that Israel had promised Russia that Russian workers – who are building more nuclear facilities at the Bushehr site – would be safe, even as Israel attempts to degrade Iran's nuclear capabilities by force.

The head of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom warned on Thursday that the situation around the plant is fraught with risks.

"If there is a strike on the operational first power unit, it will be a disaster comparable to Chernobyl," the state news agency RIA quoted Alexei Likhachev as saying.

Likhachev was referring to the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a reactor exploded in Chernobyl in Soviet Ukraine.

An attack on Bushehr would be "more than evil," Likhachev added.

Russia has evacuated some of its specialists from Bushehr, he said, but the core workforce – which Putin said numbered hundreds of people – remained on site.

"We are ready for any scenario, including the rapid evacuation of all our employees," RIA quoted Likhachev as saying.