Iran is ringing two deeply buried tunnel complexes with a massive security perimeter linked to its main nuclear facility, a report said on Wednesday, amid threats of attack from the United States and Israel.
The Institute for Science and International Security released its report, based on the latest satellite imagery, as the US and Iran prepare to hold a third round of talks this weekend on a possible deal aimed at imposing new restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
US President Donald Trump, who pulled the US out of a 2015 pact designed to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, has threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal is quickly reached that achieves the same goal.
Trump’s withdrawal from the pact has prompted Iran to violate many of its restrictions. Western powers suspect it is seeking nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.
Nuclear fears
David Albright, president of the institute, said the new perimeter suggests that the tunnel complexes, which have been under construction under Mt. Kolang Gaz La for several years, could be operational relatively soon. Albright said Tehran has not allowed UN nuclear inspectors access to the complexes.
That raised concerns they could be used to store stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or undeclared nuclear material, as well as advanced centrifuges that could quickly purify enough uranium to make a bomb, he said.
Iran has said the advanced centrifuges would be assembled in one complex instead of a facility at the nearby Natanz plant, the centrepiece of its nuclear programme, destroyed in a sabotage in 2020.
The complexes are being built at a depth far greater than Iran’s deeply buried uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom, Albright said.
Commercial satellite images taken on March 29 show fortified entrances to the complexes, tall wall panels erected along the edges of a graded road girdling the mountaintop, and excavations to install additional panels, the report said.
The north side of the perimeter connects to the Natanz plant security ring, the report said.
The ongoing construction of the complexes appears to underscore Tehran’s rejection of demands that any talks with the United States lead to a complete dismantling of its nuclear programme, saying it has a right to peaceful nuclear technology.
