DUBAI, UAE – Iran has begun construction of a site at its underground nuclear facility in Fordo amid tensions with the United States over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday for The Associated Press show.
Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction in Fordo, the discovery of which by the West in 2009 occurred before world powers reached the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
While the purpose of the building is still unclear, any work at Fordo is likely to spark new concern in the Trump administration’s waning days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Already, Iran is building its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion back in July that Tehran described as a sabotage attack.
“Any change in this place will be carefully seen as a sign of where the Iranian nuclear program is headed,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies at the Institute for International Studies. Middlebury studying Iran.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are in Iran as part of the nuclear deal, also did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
Construction of the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by the AP show the construction being carried out on a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away. ) southwest of Tehran.
A December 11 satellite photo shows what appears to be an excavated base for a building with dozens of pillars. These pillars can be used in construction to support buildings in earthquake zones.
The construction site is located northwest of the Fordo underground facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from possible airstrikes. The site is close to other Fordo support and research and development buildings.
Among these buildings is Iran’s National Vacuum Technology Center. Vacuum technology is a crucial component of Iran’s uranium-gas centrifuges, which enrich uranium.
A Twitter account called Observer IL earlier this week published an image of Fordo showing the construction, citing him as coming from the South Korean Aerospace Research Institute.
Subsequently, the AP reached out to the Twitter user, who identified himself as a retired soldier from the Israeli Defense Forces with training in civil engineering. He asked that his name not be published about previous threats he received online. The Korean Aerospace Research Institute acknowledged having taken the satellite photo.
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the United States from the Iranian nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program, its regional policies, and other issues as it withdrew from the deal, although the deal focused entirely on Tehran’s atomic program.
As the United States increased sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the limits of the agreement, as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war earlier this year. .. Tensions remain high.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium in Fordo and turn it into “a nuclear, physics and technology center.”
“This location was an important point in the negotiations that led to Iran’s nuclear deal,” Lewis said. “The United States insisted that Iran close it, while Iran’s supreme leader said keeping it was a red line.”
Since the collapse of the agreement, Iran has resumed enrichment.
Protected by mountains, the facility is also surrounded by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. It is the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to make U.S. officials suspect it had a military purpose when it publicly exposed the site in 2009.
At present, Iran enriches uranium to 4.5%, violating the agreement limit of 3.67%. Iranian parliament passes bill forcing Tehran to enrich up to 20%, a short technical step from 90% weapon grade levels. The bill would also expel IAEA inspectors.
Experts say Iran now has enough stockpile of low-enriched uranium for at least two nuclear weapons, if it chose to pursue them. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opposed the bill, the country’s Guardian Council subsequently amended and approved it. The bill seeks to pressure European nations to provide relief from crippling US sanctions.
Meanwhile, an Iranian scientist who created his military nuclear program two decades ago was recently killed in a shooting outside Tehran.. Iran has been blamed for attacking Israel, which has long been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists. Israel has not commented.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.