Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, on Wednesday (June 18), rejected US President Donald Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender, and said that Israel had made a huge mistake in attacking Iran.
In a televised speech, he said that Israel would be punished for these actions, and that any US strike “will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,” Reuters reported. He said people will not forget the blood of “martyrs” and the attack on their territory.
This follows remarks earlier in the day by the Iranian ambassador to the UN, Ali Bahreini, who said that Iran would respond to Israeli strikes “strongly” and “without restraint”. He told the UN Human Rights Council that Israel’s targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities represented an act of “war against humanity.”
“The deliberate targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities not only constitutes a grave violation of international law and UN Charter but also risks exposition of all people in our neighbourhood to possible hazardous leak. This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity,” he said.
Israel commenced its attacks on several Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 12, days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran for not working with its inspectors. This came amidst talks between the US and Iran to mull removing the crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, in exchange for reducing or completely ending Uranium enrichment.
Which are the sites of Iran’s nuclear programme? And how have Israeli airstrikes impacted production at each location?
Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities
NATANZ: Iran’s main enrichment site is its nuclear facility at Natanz, located on the Central Plateau, around 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran. The Natanz site is home to two enrichment plants that were operational when Israel began its attacks.
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* The Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) is a vast underground facility designed to house 50,000 centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. According to a Reuters report, the FEP has 17,000 centrifuges installed, of which 13,500 were operational and enriching uranium to up to 5%. Given its location several floors underground, military experts have long speculated whether Israel could locate and destroy the site.
On June 13, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council that Israeli airstrikes had destroyed the electricity infrastructure of the plant, chiefly an electrical sub-station, the main electric power supply building, emergency power supply and back-up generators. On Monday (June 16), the agency revised its assessment of the damage, telling the BBC that all operational centrifuges were likely “severely damaged if not destroyed altogether”.
* The Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) is the smallest Iranian enrichment facility, and is located above ground. According to Reuters reporting, it was primarily a research and development (R&D) centre, with much of the R&D work since moved underground to the FEP. The PFEP had two interconnected full-size cascades (interconnected clusters of centrifuges) of up to 164 advanced centrifuges each, and enriched uranium to up to 60%. It also had up to 201 centrifuges enriching up to 2%.
Grossi said that the PFEP was destroyed in the Israeli attack on June 13.
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* In 2023, Iran commenced tunnelling into the Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā or Pickax Mountain near the Zagros Mountains in central Iran, to build a nuclear facility deep within the mountains. The stated goal was to fortify its nuclear facility against a possible last-ditch US weapon designed to destroy such sites, the Associated Press reported. This development was halted by the Stuxnet virus, purportedly of Israeli and American origin, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges, as well as two separate sabotage attacks attributed to Israel, the AP report said.
FORDOW: The major share of uranium enrichment occurs at a site buried deep within a huge mountain at Fordow, nearly 100 km southwest of the capital, Tehran. The facility is completely underground. UN inspectors in 2012 reported the presence of tunnels with thick walls and blast-proof doors, with some bunkers protected by 300 feet of rock, The Washington Post reported.
According to the IAEA, the country’s most powerful centrifuges are located here. Fordow has about 2,000 operational centrifuges, but uses roughly the same number as the PFEP did.
This site produces uranium enriched up to 60%, a small step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% enrichment, Reuters reported. The report added that 166.6 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% were produced in the most recent quarter, which, if enriched further, could be used to produce about four nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.
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The site has thus far not suffered any damage from Israeli airstrikes. Israel does not currently possess the type of earth-penetrating, bunker-busting bombs to blow up the mountain and destroy the facility. However, its ally, the US, possesses the bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which is capable of delivering 30,000-pound precision-guided bombs which can destroy subterranean targets. The MOP, originally understood to be capable of penetrating 200 feet below the earth, has likely advanced according to an expert cited by The Post.
Other nuclear facilities
* Iran’s nuclear complex at Isfahan, located 350 km southeast of Tehran, is home to three Chinese research reactors and labs under the Iranian atomic programme, the AP reported. The IAEA said that Israeli strikes on June 14 had damaged four buildings at this complex. This included the Uranium Conversion Facility, where ‘yellowcake’ uranium is turned into uranium hexafluoride, the raw input for centrifuges, so that it can be enriched, according to Reuters.
* Bushehr province, located along the Persian Gulf and 750 km south of Tehran, houses Iran’s lone commercial nuclear power plant, dating back to the mid-1970s. According to the AP, the plant was repeatedly targeted during the Iran-Iraq war, and its construction was completed by Russia later. Iran has been building two more reactors at the site, with uranium produced in Russia and monitored by the IAEA.
Israeli airstrikes have not targeted the plant yet. However, Reuters on Tuesday (June 17) reported that Iran had arrested a person for photographing sensitive areas around the site, on suspicion of spying for Israel.
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The province is home to the world’s largest natural gas field. The South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar, was targeted by Israeli strikes on June 14, causing a partial suspension of production.
