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Iranian Atomic Organization Refutes Reports of Building Nuclear Site under Natanz Mountains

Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. (IRNA)
Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. (IRNA)
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Iranian Atomic Organization Refutes Reports of Building Nuclear Site under Natanz Mountains

Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. (IRNA)
Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. (IRNA)

The head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, denied what he called “rumors” about building a nuclear site under the Zagros Mountains separating central and western Iran, without mentioning the Natanz facility, after American experts said it was expanding at a greater depth than that of the fortified Fordow complex.

 

The Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, quoted Eslami as saying that the media reports regarding the construction of the nuclear site under the mountains adjacent to the Natanz facility, are “bogus repetitions that Israel has been saying for years.”

 

He added that whenever Israel finds itself “stuck in difficult situations in the region, it intensifies these psychological operations.”

 

He added that “Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever it wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and act accordingly,” Eslami said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

 

A report by the Associated Press said that the regime was building a deep underground nuclear facility near the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, close to the Natanz nuclear site, with experts claiming development “is likely beyond the range of a last-ditch US weapon designed to destroy such sites.”

 

Photos and videos from Planet Labs PBC, cited in the report, showed that Iran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site.

 

A different set of images analyzed by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies reveals that four entrances have been dug into the mountainside, two to the east and another two to the west. Each is 6 meters (20 feet) wide and 8 meters (26 feet) tall.

 

It is not the first time that an underground site has been revealed near the Natanz facility. In January 2021, while US President Joe Biden was preparing to enter the White House, the Washington-based International Institute for Science and Security revealed a set of images taken by the US Maxar satellites.

 

The Institute, which monitors sensitive nuclear activities, said that the authorities were building a new facility under the mountain to accelerate uranium enrichment.

 

Iran said at the time that the new facility would replace a damaged centrifuge manufacturing center.

 

The new Natanz facility is likely to be even deeper underground than Iran’s Fordow complex, according to the AP report.

 

“So the depth of the facility is a concern because it would be much harder for us. It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as a typical bunker buster bomb,” Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the center who led the analysis of the tunnel work, told AP.

 

Israel immediately commented on the report, threatening to launch a decisive strike on Iran if it continues to enrich uranium by more than 60 percent.

 

“This of course limits the capacity to carry out an attack, relative to above-ground facilities, which is of course easier. But what can be said about this matter is that there is nowhere that cannot be reached,” Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, as quoted by Reuters.

 

The Israeli official declined to threaten an explicit Israeli attack and even suggested the onus would be on the United States, by noting that it has massive GBU-43/B bombs which are not in Israel’s arsenal.

 

But he added: “This (underground facility near Natanz) is years away from being completed.”

 

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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said.

Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”

At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”

He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.

Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.

The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.