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    • Air strike on Iran’s Parchin complex hampers nuclear bomb development
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    Air strike on Iran’s Parchin complex hampers nuclear bomb development

    Vaseline Posted on

    Israel’s late October attack on the Iranian military complex in Parchin has significantly hampered Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear bomb should the country choose to do so, two senior Israeli officials said.

    The sophisticated equipment destroyed in the attack was essential for shaping and testing plastic explosives that encase uranium in a nuclear device, which is crucial for setting off a nuclear chain reaction. This equipment was previously used by Iran before the country froze its military nuclear program in 2003.

    According to U.S. and Israeli officials, Iran has resumed research into nuclear weapons over the past year, although it has taken no concrete steps toward building an atomic bomb. Israeli officials noted that if Iran decides to develop nuclear weapons, it would have to replace the destroyed equipment.

    They believe that Israeli or American intelligence services are likely to detect any attempt by Iran to build or acquire such machines. “This equipment is a bottleneck. The Iranians are without this equipment,” said a senior Israeli official.

    The Taleghan 2 facility within the Parchin military complex was used before 2003 to test explosives needed for a nuclear device. This activity was halted when Iran suspended its military nuclear program. In addition, the destroyed equipment had been stored at the site since at least 2003, Israeli officials say.

    A satellite image shows the Khojir rocket engine casting plant, in the aftermath of what an American investigator said was an Israeli airstrike that hit a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program, near Tehran, Iran, October 26 2024. (credit: Planet Labs Inc/Handout via REUTERS)

    U.S. and Israeli officials reported that Iran has resumed scientific activities in the past year that could serve as a basis for developing nuclear weapons, although these could also be presented as civilian research. “They conducted scientific work that could lay the groundwork for the production of nuclear weapons. It was highly secretive and known only to a small part of the Iranian government,” a US official said.

    The attack disrupts Iran’s nuclear progress

    The destroyed equipment at Taleghan 2 was reportedly not used for these research activities, but would be critical in future phases if Iran decided to build a nuclear bomb. “This is equipment that the Iranians would need if they wanted to move towards a nuclear bomb. Now they don’t have them, and finding an alternative won’t be easy. We would see such efforts,” a senior Israeli official explained. .

    In planning a retaliatory strike after Iran’s massive missile attack on October 1, Israel targeted the Taleghan 2 facility. President Biden has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to target Iranian nuclear sites to avoid sparking a war with Iran, US officials said. However, because Taleghan 2 was not part of Iran’s declared nuclear program, Tehran could not acknowledge its existence and the damage suffered without admitting that it had violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    “The attack sent a not-so-subtle message that Israel has significant access to what is happening in the Iranian system, even with activities that remain secret and known only to a very small group within the Iranian government,” a US official said.



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