New York Times: Satellite images show Iran's centrifuge production center moved underground

The New York Times reported on Wednesday, December 9, that satellite images taken from the Natanz nuclear site show that the Islamic Republic of Iran is building a new center deep in the mountain.

According to this report, Iran is constructing this center to replace a building that exploded on July 3 of this year at the Natanz nuclear facility.

A team of experts who reviewed satellite images for The New York Times said that moving uranium enrichment centrifuges to the underground facility would protect it from air strikes or possible acts of sabotage.

These experts said the new center is located on a mountainside south of the exploded Natanz center, 225 kilometers south of Tehran.

The images appear to show two entrances to the tunnel, on either side of the mountainside, not far apart, next to excavated soil. Since mid-July this year, no piles of soil from possible excavation have been seen at this location.

Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute in California, told the New York Times that the distance between the two drilled holes and the size of the holes would be sufficient for a facility the size of an underground nuclear site to store centrifuges similar to the hall that exploded on July 3 of this year.

Mr. Lewis added that it could be speculated that this location would be "safer" for Iran to guard its centrifuges because it is away from road access and the foothills would also protect it from possible air strikes.

According to the New York Times, it is estimated that Iran has put more tunnels on its agenda, indicating that the facility under construction will be larger than the previously exploded site.

Iran has not yet responded to the New York Times report.

After the explosion in the Natanz centrifuge balancing hall, Iranian officials said that the incident would not hinder the continuation of Iran's nuclear program.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, had said that a new center would be built in the heart of the mountain to replace the exploded building.

Iranian political and security officials have said the July 3 explosion was the result of “industrial sabotage.” Iran has indirectly blamed Israel for the explosion.

The New York Times wrote in mid-July that the explosion was the work of Israel.

Israeli experts claimed that the explosion of the site, which was set eight years ago to enrich uranium to a concentration higher than the level required for peaceful uses, had set back the progress of Iran's nuclear program by two years.

Based on the JCPOA, Iran apparently paused enrichment, construction, and use of more advanced centrifuges since 2015.

A year after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran announced that it had taken five steps to reduce its nuclear commitments to protest Europe's lack of seriousness in overseeing the JCPOA and the ineffectiveness of the INSTEX mechanism.

Last week, Tehran also began injecting gas into more advanced centrifuges, a few days after the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Deputy Minister of Defense and senior nuclear and military industries scientist, who was killed on December 27 in the Damavand reservoir.

Three European countries warned Iran this week to reverse these steps and return to its JCPOA commitments.

On December 8, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called on Iran to address concerns about its nuclear and long-range missile programs and restore its commitments to the JCPOA.

The new New York Times report was published on a day when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, while strongly criticizing Europe's call on Iran at a government meeting on Wednesday, said that if the opposing parties adhere to the JCPOA, "every centrifuge installed in our nuclear facilities can also be removed."

Mr. Rouhani said: "Returning (America) to the JCPOA and fulfilling its commitments does not require time or negotiation, and both of us (Iran and America) should return."

Mr. Biden has said that returning to the JCPOA is on his agenda, although he knows it will be difficult.

Israel, which is Iran's main suspect in the explosion at the Natanz site and the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, has said that the US's return to the JCPOA is a "mistake" and may even mean "war," without claiming responsibility for these events.

Source: Radio Farda