ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Satellite Imagery shows renewed activity since early September at a site northeast of Tehran that Israel has linked to nuclear weapons development and struck in March, a US-based nuclear expert said Tuesday, as Washington presses Iran to curb its uranium enrichment capacity.
Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran on February 28, beginning the current conflict. Nuclear facilities were among the targets, with Washington and Israel saying preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon was a central objective of the campaign.
The Institute for Science and International Security said in a report by its head David Albright published Tuesday that activity has resumed at Minzadayi, a heavily secured compound northeast of Tehran that Israel identified and attacked on March 3.
High-resolution satellite imagery from September October showed regular vehicle activity returning to the compound following an extensive cleanup operation, including the removal of rubble and repairs to damage on a hillside, according to the Washington-based institute.
It also identified continuing earth-moving work in an area damaged during the March attack and what it described as a “significant vehicle presence” across the compound between early September and early October.
“Given what is known about this compound, this activity may be indicative of an effort by Iran to reestablish a nuclear weapons development capability and to reconstitute what was lost in the attack on the compound,” the Institute said.
The Institute said its assessment of the site’s previous work was based on public reporting and statements by the Israeli military, which said in March that scientists at the compound had been covertly working on a key component for nuclear weapons.
Israel said at the time that it had tracked Iranian nuclear scientists to the site before carrying out the strike. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
The report comes as the US continues to insist that Iran significantly reduce its uranium enrichment capacity as a condition for ending the seven-month war.
JD Vance, the vice president of US, told Reuters in an interview published Wednesday that Tehran would need to make a “meaningful” reduction in its enrichment capabilities rather than merely promise future restrictions.
“If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel,” Vance said.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said during a Monday meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Tehran that Iran had repeatedly demonstrated what he called its sincerity over its nuclear activities.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly proven its sincerity regarding its nuclear activities, and our country has been subject to the most extensive monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the world.,” he said.
Pezeshkian accused the US of pressuring Iran on the basis of “false claims” and said Tehran remained prepared for dialogue and verification of its nuclear activities.
“We are ready for dialogue and verification on nuclear activities, but every time inspectors have come to Iran, our nuclear sites and scientists have been identified and the sites then bombed,” he said.
Washington has amped up economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and a naval blockade that has sharply reduced Iran’s oil exports. The two countries remain at odds despite a new round of Qatari-mediated talks in New York late last month.
The negotiations have focused on ending hostilities and the future of the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington has continued demanding concrete nuclear concessions.
The Strait of Hormuz lies at the heart of those disagreements. Iran has restricted passage through the strategic waterway and required ships to comply with procedures imposed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), while mines and repeated attacks on commercial vessels have disrupted shipping since the war began.
The US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington must “finish up” its campaign against Iran, claiming that Tehran’s military had been effectively destroyed and its economy pushed towards collapse.
“But we have to finish up. And it’s only a question of which way. Do we want to do it? The nice way or the not so nice way. And pretty soon you'll find out,” said Trump while speaking at an event marking the launch of Arsenal 2, a new large-scale shipyard in Maryland.
