Iran launches rapid clean-up at nuclear site after Israeli airstrikes

Iran has begun a swift clean-up operation at a nuclear-related facility in northern Tehran, following Israeli airstrikes, in what experts say could remove evidence of nuclear weapons development, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).

Satellite imagery “shows a significant effort by Iran to rapidly demolish damaged or destroyed buildings, likely to sanitise any incriminating nuclear weapons research and development activities,” Caliber.Az quotes ISIS as saying per foreign media.

The institute, led by former UN nuclear inspector David Albright, focuses on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran’s UN embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

The report on the Mojdeh site comes as the UN nuclear watchdog holds talks in Tehran on resuming inspections that were disrupted by a war with Israel from 13–24 June and US strikes on Iran’s three main nuclear facilities on 22 June.

Britain, France, and Germany are expected to begin the process of re-imposing UN sanctions on Iran for breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, according to four diplomats.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters at the end of a two-day visit to Washington that Iran is legally obliged to allow inspections to resume and that they should begin “as soon as possible.”

He said the agency wants to visit “all of the sites that are relevant,” including the main nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, and account for Iran’s stock of more than 400kg (882lbs) of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade purity.

Mojdeh strikes

Israel struck the Mojdeh site, also known as Lavisan II and located next to Malek Ashtar University, twice during operations in June that targeted hundreds of sites across Iran.

The ISIS report noted that the IAEA had linked Mojdeh directly to the AMAD Plan, a nuclear weapons development programme that US intelligence and the agency concluded ended in 2003.

The first strike hit several buildings, including one associated with the Institute of Applied Physics and another suspected of links to the Shahid Karimi Group, sanctioned by the US for missile and explosive projects.

The group is part of the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, which both the US and IAEA say directly succeeded the AMAD Plan.

The second strike destroyed the Institute of Applied Physics building, damaged a security building, and demolished a workshop, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies dated 20 June.

By 3 July, images showed initial clean-up operations underway. By 19 August, the Applied Physics building and workshop had been completely razed and cleared, along with the building thought to house the Shahid Karimi Group.

“The rapid work by Iran to quickly demolish and clear the rubble of these important buildings appears to be an effort to sanitise the site and limit the availability of any possible future inspection from obtaining' evidence of nuclear weapons-related work, the report said.

By Aghakazim Guliyev