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Satellite photos show increased activity at Iranian nuclear site
Image courtesy of ImageSat International. Fordo Iranian nuclear facility.
Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal has been questioned after new satellite images showed extensive activity at the Fordo nuclear facility.
Images of the Fordo underground uranium enrichment plant, released by Israeli satellite imaging company ImageSat yesterday, appeared to show signs of increased activity at the site, including a large number of vehicles at its entrance.
Iran was forced to limit the number of centrifuges inside Fordo to 1,044, agreed not to “conduct any uranium enrichment or any uranium enrichment-related [research]” and to keep “no nuclear material at the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) for 15 years”. The images raise the question of whether Fordo, which was converted into a research-only facility after 2015, may in fact be enriching uranium for other means.
One image shows that a gate leading to what ImageSat refers to as “uranium enrichment tunnels,” which had been closed since November 2015 but as of 29 April is once again open.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Fordo on Monday, as he gave a presentation aimed at proving Iran is not in compliance with the nuclear agreement, based on documents Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency recovered from an Iranian storage facility. “You don’t put thousands of centrifuges under a mountain to produce medical isotopes; you put them there for one reason: nuclear weapons, enrichment for nuclear weapons,” he said.
US President Donald Trump is set to decide whether or not to waive US sanctions on Iran on 12 May, in a move that could lead to a US withdrawal from the JCPOA. Yesterday Reuters revealed that two White House sources said Trump has “all but decided” not to waive US sanctions, but may not pull the US out of the deal completely.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged Trump not to walk away from the deal, saying “we should not scrap it unless we have a good alternative”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned yesterday that Iran would “exercise our right to respond” if the US reinstates sanctions or withdraws from the deal.