Detroit Free Press

Purpose unclear for Iran’s undergroun­d nuclear site

Satellite photos show facility about size of football field

- Jon Gambrell

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran has begun constructi­on on a site at its undergroun­d nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, according to satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

Iran has not publicly acknowledg­ed any new constructi­on at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmansh­ip before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

While the purpose of the building remains unclear, any work at Fordo likely will trigger new concern in the waning days of the Trump administra­tion before the inaugurati­on of President-elect Joe Biden. Already, Iran is building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack.

“Any changes at this site will be carefully watched as a sign of where Iran’s nuclear program is headed,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonprolife­ration Studies at the Middlebury Institute of Internatio­nal Studies who studies Iran.

Asked for comment, Iran’s mission to the United Nations told the AP that “none of Iran’s nuclear activities are secret,” given the ongoing inspection­s by the Internatio­nal

Atomic Energy Agency.

“We have always maintained that our current activities, which are in line with (the nuclear deal), can and will be immediatel­y reversed once the other parties, including the U.S., come into full compliance with what was agreed upon, in particular on removing sanctions,” mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi said. He did not elaborate.

The Vienna-based IAEA, whose inspectors are in Iran as part of the nuclear deal, declined to comment. The agency as of yet has not publicly disclosed if Iran informed it of any constructi­on at Fordo.

Constructi­on on the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologi­es by the AP show the constructi­on taking place at a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom, some 55 miles southwest of Tehran.

A Dec. 11 satellite photo shows what appears to be a dug foundation for a building with dozens of pillars. Such pillars can be used in constructi­on to support buildings in earthquake zones.

The constructi­on site sits northwest of Fordo’s undergroun­d facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from potential airstrikes.

The site is near other above-ground support and research-and-developmen­t buildings at Fordo.

Among those buildings is Iran’s National Vacuum Technology Center. Vacuum technology is a crucial component of Iran’s uranium-gas centrifuge­s, which enrich uranium.

 ?? MAXAR TECHNOLOGI­ES VIA AP ?? A satellite photo shows constructi­on at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility.
MAXAR TECHNOLOGI­ES VIA AP A satellite photo shows constructi­on at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility.

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