How Much Damage Have Israeli Strikes Caused to Iran’s Nuclear Program?

A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
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How Much Damage Have Israeli Strikes Caused to Iran’s Nuclear Program?

A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
A satellite image shows new vehicle tracks and dirt piles over underground centrifuge facility at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after airstrike in Iran in this handout image dated June 15, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)

Israel has carried out wide-ranging military strikes on Iran, hitting sites including some of its most important nuclear facilities.

Below is a summary of what is known about the damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear program, incorporating data from the last quarterly report by the UN nuclear watchdog on May 31.

OVERVIEW

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity. This could easily be refined further to the roughly 90% which is weapons grade.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects Iran's nuclear sites including its enrichment plants, says that is of "serious concern" because no other country has enriched to that level without producing nuclear weapons. Western powers say there is no civil justification for enrichment to that level.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. It points to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

HEART OF THE PROGRAM: URANIUM ENRICHMENT

Iran had three operating uranium enrichment plants when Israel began its attacks:

* The Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz (power supply hit)

A vast underground facility designed to house 50,0000 centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium.

There has long been speculation among military experts about whether Israeli airstrikes could destroy the facility given that it is several floors underground.

There are about 17,000 centrifuges installed there, of which around 13,500 were operating at last count, enriching uranium to up to 5%.

Electricity infrastructure at Natanz was destroyed, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on Friday, specifically an electrical sub-station, the main electric power supply building, emergency power supply and back-up generators.

While there was no indication of a physical attack on the underground hall containing the FEP, "the loss of power ... may have damaged the centrifuges there", he said.

Grossi has cited unspecified "information available to the IAEA". While Iran has provided the agency with some information, the IAEA generally makes extensive use of satellite imagery.

* The Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz (destroyed)

The smallest and, being above-ground, the softest target of the three enrichment plants. Long a research and development center, it used fewer centrifuges than the other plants, often connected in smaller clusters of machines known as cascades.

It did, however, have two interconnected, full-size cascades of up to 164 advanced centrifuges each, enriching uranium to up to 60%. Apart from that, there were only up to 201 centrifuges operating at the PFEP enriching to up to 2%.

Most of the research and development work attributed to the PFEP had recently been moved underground to the FEP, where more than 1,000 of its advanced centrifuges were enriching to up to 5%.

The PFEP was destroyed in the Israeli attack, Grossi said.

* The Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (no visible damage)

Iran's most deeply buried enrichment site, dug into a mountain, suffered no visible damage, Grossi reiterated on Monday.

While it has only about 2,000 centrifuges in operation, it produces the vast majority of Iran's uranium enriched to up to 60%, using roughly the same number of centrifuges as the PFEP did, because it feeds uranium enriched to up to 20% into those cascades compared to 5% at the PFEP.

Fordo therefore produced 166.6 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% in the most recent quarter. According to an IAEA yardstick, that is enough in principle, if enriched further, for just under four nuclear weapons, compared to the PFEP's 19.2 kg, less than half a bomb's worth.

OTHER FACILITIES

Israeli strikes damaged four buildings at the nuclear complex at Isfahan, the IAEA has said, including the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) and facilities where work on uranium metal was conducted.

While it has other uses, mastering uranium metal technology is an important step in making the core of a nuclear weapon. If Iran were to try to make a nuclear weapon, it would need to take weapons-grade uranium and turn it into uranium metal.

Uranium conversion is the process by which "yellowcake" uranium is turned into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges, so that it can be enriched. If the UCF is out of use, Iran will eventually run out of uranium to enrich unless it finds an outside source of uranium hexafluoride.

SCIENTISTS

At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources said on Sunday.

Israel's armed forces named nine of them on Saturday, saying they "played a central part of the progress toward nuclear weapons" and that "their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction". That assertion could not immediately be verified.

Western powers have often said Iran's nuclear advances provide it with an "irreversible knowledge gain", suggesting that while losing experts or facilities may slow progress, the advances are permanent.

URANIUM STOCKPILE

Iran has a large stock of uranium enriched to different levels.

As of May 17, Iran was estimated to have enough uranium enriched to up to 60% for it to make nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.

At lower enrichment levels it has enough for more bombs, though it would take more effort: enough enriched to up to 20% for two more, and enough enriched to up to 5% for 11 more.

Much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stockpile is stored at Isfahan under IAEA seal, officials have said. The IAEA does not report where it is stored, nor has it said whether it was affected by the strikes.

OPEN QUESTIONS

* How will Iran respond?

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV on Saturday Iran would take measures to protect nuclear materials and equipment that would not be notified to the IAEA and it would no longer cooperate with the IAEA as before.

Lawmakers are also preparing a bill that could prompt Iran to pull out of the NPT, following in the footsteps of North Korea, which announced its withdrawal in 2003 and went on to test nuclear weapons.

The IAEA does not know how many centrifuges Iran has outside its enrichment plants. Any further reduction in cooperation with the IAEA could increase speculation that it will or has set up a secret enrichment plant using some of that supply.

Existing centrifuge cascades can also be reconfigured to enrich to a different purity level within a week, officials have said.

* What is the status of the uranium stock?

If Iran can no longer convert, its existing stock of uranium hexafluoride and enriched uranium becomes even more important.

* How bad is the damage?

The IAEA has not yet been able to carry out inspections to assess the damage there in detail.

* Will there be more attacks?

Soon after the attacks started on Friday, US President Donald Trump urged Iran to make a deal with the United States to impose fresh restrictions on its nuclear program "before there is nothing left". Talks scheduled for June 15 were called off.



UN Peacekeepers in the Crossfire Between Israel and Hezbollah

 A UNIFIL vehicle drives past a Lebanese soldier, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A UNIFIL vehicle drives past a Lebanese soldier, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Peacekeepers in the Crossfire Between Israel and Hezbollah

 A UNIFIL vehicle drives past a Lebanese soldier, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A UNIFIL vehicle drives past a Lebanese soldier, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)

United Nations peacekeepers, who for decades have served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, have seen three of their comrades killed and several others wounded since the latest war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here is an overview of the UN force in south Lebanon, whose mandate expires at the end of this year.

- In the firing line -

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the area around the country's southern border, where Hezbollah and Israel began clashing this month after the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel.

Israeli forces have been pushing into areas north of the frontier, and officials have announced plans to establish a buffer zone up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Israel.

On Monday, two peacekeepers were killed when "an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", wounding at least two others, the force said.

The day before, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile, also of undetermined origin, exploded near a UNIFIL position.

And earlier this month, three Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded when their base was hit, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accusing Israel of being responsible and UNIFIL saying it would investigate.

Over the years since its mission began in 1978, the force has lost around 340 members.

Visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres this month said attacks against peacekeepers and their positions were "completely unacceptable... and may constitute war crimes".

- Ceasefire monitors -

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon to stem Palestinian attacks targeting northern Israel.

Israel again invaded in 1982, only withdrawing from south Lebanon in 2000.

After a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bolstered UNIFIL's role and its peacekeepers were tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.

UNIFIL patrols the Blue Line, the 120-kilometre (75-mile) de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in coordination with the Lebanese army. It also has a maritime task force that supports Lebanon's navy.

The mission has its headquarters south Lebanon's Naqoura, which in recent years has hosted indirect border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

Following a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, UNIFIL became part of a five-member committee supervising that truce.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council voted last year to end the force's mandate on December 31, 2026, with an "orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal" by the end of 2027.

- International force -

The mission currently involves around 8,200 peacekeepers from 47 countries, according to the force's website.

Top troop-contributing countries include Italy, Indonesia, Spain, India, Ghana, France, Nepal and Malaysia.

Italy's Major General Diodato Abagnara has headed the mission since June 2025.

UNIFIL patrols have occasionally faced harassment, though confrontations are typically defused by the Lebanese army.

In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and three colleagues wounded when their convoy came under fire in south Lebanon.

- Border area -

Resolution 1701 of 2006 called for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.

UNIFIL had been supporting the army in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the border in the months before the latest hostilities erupted, in line with a Lebanese government decision to disarm the group following the 2024 truce.

Hezbollah has long held sway over swathes of the south and has built tunnels and hideouts there, despite not having had a visible military presence in the border area since 2006.

- What comes next? -

Lebanese authorities want a continued international troop presence in the south after UNIFIL's exit, and have been urging European countries to stay.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Lebanon's army should replace the force when the peacekeepers withdraw.

Italy has said it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon after UNIFIL leaves.


Hidden Battle…Iran Conflict Shows How Digital Fight is Ingrained in Warfare

Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
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Hidden Battle…Iran Conflict Shows How Digital Fight is Ingrained in Warfare

Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But instead of a helpful app, the link downloaded spyware giving hackers access to the device’s camera, location and all its data.

The operation, attributed to Iran, showed sophisticated coordination and is just the latest tactic in a cyber conflict that pits the US and Israel against Iran and its digital proxies, according to The Associated Press.

As Iran and its supporters seek to use their cyber capabilities to compensate for their military disadvantages, they are demonstrating how disinformation, artificial intelligence and hacking are now ingrained in modern warfare.

The bogus texts received recently appeared to be timed to coincide with the missile strikes, representing a novel combination of digital and physical attacks, said Gil Messing, chief of staff at Check Point Research, a cybersecurity firm with offices in Israel and the US.

“This was sent to people while they were running to shelters to defend themselves,” Messing said. “The fact it’s synced and at the same minute ... is a first.”

Easy and Cheap Fight

The digital fight is likely to persist even if a ceasefire is reached, experts said, because it’s a lot easier and cheaper than conventional conflict and because it is designed not to kill or conquer, but to spy, steal and frighten.

While high in volume, most of the cyberattacks linked to the war have been relatively minor when it comes to damage to economic or military networks. But they have put many US and Israeli companies on the defensive, forcing them to quickly patch old security weaknesses.

Investigators at the Utah-based security firm DigiCert have tracked nearly 5,800 cyberattacks so far mounted by nearly 50 different groups tied to Iran. While most of the attacks targeted US or Israeli companies, DigiCert also found attacks on networks in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and other countries in the region.

Many of the attacks are easily thwarted by the latest cybersecurity precautions. But they can inflict serious damage on organizations with out-of-date security and impose a demand on resources even when unsuccessful.

Then there’s the psychological impact on companies that may do business with the military.
“There are a lot more attacks happening that aren’t being reported,” said Michael Smith, DigiCert’s field chief technology officer.

A pro-Iranian hacking group claimed responsibility Friday for infiltrating an account of FBI Director Kash Patel, posting what appeared to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents. Many of those records appeared to be more than a decade old.

It’s similar to a lot of the cyberattacks linked to pro-Iran hackers: splashy and designed to boost morale among supporters, while undermining the confidence of the opponent but without much impact to the war effort.

Smith said these high-volume, low-impact attacks are “a way of telling people in other countries that you can still reach out and touch them even though they’re on a different continent. That makes them more of an intimidation tactic.”

Health Care and Data Centers a Target

Iran is likely to target the weakest links in American cybersecurity: supply chains that support the economy and the war effort, as well as critical infrastructure like ports, rail stations, water plants and hospitals.

Iran also is targeting data centers with both cyber and conventional weapons, showing how important the centers have become to the economy, communications and military information security.

This month, hackers supporting Iran claimed responsibility for hacking Stryker, a Michigan-based medical technology company. The group known as Handala claimed the strike was in retaliation for suspected US strikes that killed Iranian schoolchildren.

Cybersecurity researchers at Halcyon recently published the findings of another recent cyberattack targeting a health care company. Halcyon did not reveal the name of the company but said the hackers used a tool that US authorities have linked to Iran to install destructive ransomware that shut the company out of its own network.

The hackers never demanded a ransom, suggesting they were motivated by destruction and chaos, not profit.

Together with the attack on Stryker, “this suggests a deliberate focus on the medical sector rather than targets of opportunity,” said Cynthia Kaiser, senior vice president at Halcyon. “As this conflict continues, we should expect that targeting to intensify.”

Artificial Intelligence is Providing a Boost

AI can be used both to increase the volume and speed of cyberattacks as well as allow hackers to automate much of the process.

But it’s disinformation where AI has really demonstrated its corrosive impact on public trust. Supporters of both sides have spread bogus images of atrocities or decisive victories that never happened. One deepfake image of sunken US warships has racked up more than 100 million views.

Authorities in Iran have limited internet access and are working to shape the view Iranians receive of the war with propaganda and disinformation. Iranian state-run media, for instance, has begun labeling actual footage of the war as fake, sometimes substituting its own doctored images, according to research at NewsGuard, a US company that tracks disinformation.

Heightened concerns about the risks posed by AI and hacking prompted the State Department to open a Bureau of Emerging Threats last year focused on new technologies and how they could be used against the US. It joins similar efforts already underway at agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Security Agency.

AI also plays a role in defending against cyberattacks by automating and speeding the work, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently told Congress.

The technology “will increasingly shape cyber operations with both cyber operators and defenders using these tools to improve their speed and effectiveness,” Gabbard said.


Beirut Rescuers Risk Their Lives to Save Animals

This photograph taken on March 26, 2026, shows a cat rescued from Beirut's southern suburbs by Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon. (AFP)
This photograph taken on March 26, 2026, shows a cat rescued from Beirut's southern suburbs by Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon. (AFP)
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Beirut Rescuers Risk Their Lives to Save Animals

This photograph taken on March 26, 2026, shows a cat rescued from Beirut's southern suburbs by Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon. (AFP)
This photograph taken on March 26, 2026, shows a cat rescued from Beirut's southern suburbs by Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon. (AFP)

Armed with thick gloves and small plastic crates Kamal, Khalil and Reem jump on two mopeds and head into Beirut's southern suburbs, which see almost daily strikes by Israeli aircraft.

Hands scarred by a thousand bites and scratches, the small rescue team from Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon uses two-wheelers to navigate streets made narrow by piles of rubble as they search for trapped animals.

In drizzling rain, the team is responding to two calls, passing from crammed central districts filled with people seeking safety into increasingly abandoned streets where Israeli airstrikes are concentrated.

The are seeking a pet cat they've been trying to trap for a week since it jumped through a bombed-out ground-floor window, and another showing signs of paralysis, they think from a recent Israeli bombing.

"We never lose hope that the cat we can't find is still around, because it will come back. This is its refuge," says volunteer Khalil Hamieh, 45.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed group Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with large-scale strikes on Lebanon and a ground offensive in the country's south.

On the edge of Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, Hamieh's colleague Issam Attar stops the jeep that will bring the rescued cats to hospital.

The mopeds can navigate onwards on two wheels, and escape quickly if an Israeli strike is announced.

- 'A living being' -

Between Israeli air raids and Hezbollah saying filming in the southern suburbs is "strictly prohibited", media access has become more complicated lately, and AFP journalists remained outside with Attar.

"It's a living being," Attar said of why he rescues animals. "It's not guilty of wars or anything else."

"Besides the fact that we feel for animals, there's also the owners who can't get their animals -- we can, and we want to help them."

Animals Lebanon told AFP its teams had rescued 241 animals from south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, areas under heavy bombardment since the start of the war.

In addition to killing over 1,100 people, the war has displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.

In this city without air-raid sirens, gunshots into the air warn people of incoming Israeli airstrikes.

The shooting and the ensuing explosions terrify cats especially, Animals Lebanon Operation Manager Reem Sadek said, and many families can't find their pets as they rush to evacuate.

"Cats in particular, when there's a strike, they panic," she said.

"We're perhaps the only people with the experience to find... and capture them."

Some of the cats can't be immediately reunited with their owners, who have nowhere to keep them as they sleep rough on the streets or crowd into shelters, so the cats stay at the Animals Lebanon office.

- 'Risking our lives' -

The war has made everything more complicated for the rescuers, including the evacuation from Lebanon of a five-month-old lion cub, still small but growing bigger by the day inside their office.

They confiscated her from wildlife traffickers shortly before the war broke out, as they were searching for another trafficked lion cub that they later tracked to Lebanon's rural northeast.

The airlines capable of bringing the lions from Lebanon to South Africa are not flying due to the war, so they're trying to evacuate the cubs to Cyprus by boat.

For now, the Animals Lebanon team continues its rescue missions -- as well as missions to feed stray animals and distribute food and veterinary medicine in places where displaced people are staying.

"We know we're risking our lives, and not just because of the shelling," Hamieh says, showing the scarred backs of his hands after they successfully rescued both cats and brought them out of the danger area.

"We're afraid of a fight with a cat or a dog while trying to save it," he says, "because it doesn't understand what we're doing."