Satellite Images of Israeli Strikes Fuel Suspicion Iran Building Nuclear Bomb

Satellite imagery taken by Airbus (X) 
Satellite imagery taken by Airbus (X) 
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Satellite Images of Israeli Strikes Fuel Suspicion Iran Building Nuclear Bomb

Satellite imagery taken by Airbus (X) 
Satellite imagery taken by Airbus (X) 

Almost two weeks after Israel and Iran agreed to a complete ceasefire, satellite images showing the aftermath of Israeli strikes on military and nuclear facilities in various parts of Iran, indicate the presence of nuclear weapons capabilities.

The Institute for Science, a think tank focused on nuclear nonproliferation, posted on its X account that the satellite imagery taken by Airbus showed multiple buildings at Iran’s Shahid Meisami research center that were destroyed during Israel’s bombing campaign between the 15th and 16th of June.

The building included a large hangar-type building constructed in 2021-2024, which reportedly housed “plastic explosives and advanced materials used in nuclear detonation testing,” it said.

The Institute also said that images taken during the construction of the hangar-type building reveal that it contains a concrete pit in the building floor, measuring 7.5 meters x 4.5 meters, which could have a role in casting plastic explosives.

“It is uncertain but possible that the nuclear weapons capabilities at this facility extended beyond producing and storing plastic explosives and other components for multi-point initiators (shock wave generators) in implosion systems,” it wrote.

The Institute added that the facility may have also been involved in developing or producing hemispherical implosion systems, based on information about the general targets destroyed by Israel and the number and types of buildings destroyed at the site.

Commenting on the satellite images, President and Founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright said, “This short study represents damage done to Iran’s infrastructure to build the nuclear weapon itself.”

In a post on X, he wrote, “We are finding more and more such sites destroyed or damaged. Israel even found where Iran kept many classified nuclear weapon documents and destroyed them.”

 

 



Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.