ISTANBUL

Russia started a large wave of evacuation on Saturday from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant following US-Israeli attacks that killed one of the plant's security personnel, Russian media reported.

Citing Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, state news agency Tass said 198 employees are expected to return to Russia within two or three days. Russia helped build the plant and, as of last year, had some 700 personnel working there.

Likhachev underlined that developments around the plant are unfolding according to an “undesirable scenario.”

“As they say, our bad premonitions were not wrong. Overall, the escalation of the conflict around the Persian Gulf is leading to corresponding consequences near the plant,” he said.

One member of the plant's security personnel was killed when it was hit on Saturday, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

The outlet said that one of the plant’s auxiliary buildings was damaged by the blast and shrapnel.

The region has been on alert since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people to date, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, as well as Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.