What to know about nuclear sites targeted in fresh US strikes on Iran Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan facilities

The US has officially joined Israel's military campaign against Iran by directly attacking three Iranian nuclear sites in the early hours of June 22, drastically upping the stakes in the Israel-Iran war. 

Following the US strikes, an Iranian official confirmed that part of the Fordow site was attacked by "enemy airstrikes," Reuters reported citing Iran's Tasnim news agency.

The US and Iran had been in talks that could have resulted in the US lifting some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium. Until that point, Washington had helped shoot down Iranian strikes on Israel but had not launched direct attacks on Iran as Trump had announced only a few days ago that he would make a decision on whether to join Israel's military campaign "within the next two weeks."

This article takes a look at the three Iranian sites that the US has struck and their significance to Tehran’s nuclear program.

Natanz Enrichment Facility

Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility is situated 220 kilometers southeast of Tehran and has been, according to an article published by AP, the country's primary uranium enrichment center. It was already a target during Israel’s initial wave of airstrikes on June 13, which marked the start of its surprise offensive against Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure.

The site had been enriching uranium to as much as 60% purity — a level still short of weapons-grade but significantly radioactive — before Israeli forces reportedly destroyed the aboveground structures, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear monitoring body.

Initially, the full extent of the damage was unclear. However, on June 17, the IAEA revised its earlier evaluation of the scale of the strike and stated it “identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts also on the underground enrichment halls”. The UN agency noted that the attack disrupted power to the facility, which likely contributed to the equipment failure.

The IAEA further confirmed that radioactive contamination resulting from the strike was limited strictly to the Natanz site itself, with no impact detected in the surrounding region.

The portion of the Natanz complex that lies underground on Iran’s Central Plateau housed multiple cascades — networks of centrifuges operating in tandem to accelerate uranium enrichment.

Fordow Enrichment Facility

Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow is located some 100 kilometers southwest of Tehran. It also hosts centrifuge cascades, but isn’t as big as Natanz. Its construction began at least in 2007, according to the IAEA, although Iran only informed the UN nuclear watchdog about the facility in 2009 after the US and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence.

Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordow appears designed to withstand airstrikes by being believed to be situated 80 to 90 meters underground. However no confirmed information has yet been revealed that would be indicative of the scale of destruction it obtained from the recent US strikes.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News shortly after his announcement of the June 22 strikes that a total of six "bunker-buster" bombs, each weighing roughly 13,600 kilograms, were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites.

While the government in Tehran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, the Israeli intelligence community has stated their conviction that Fordow forms the probable heart of Tehran’s covert atomic weapons effort.

Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center

The facility in Isfahan, some 350 kilometers southeast of Tehran, is Iran’s largest nuclear research complex and employs approximately 3,000 scientists. It also is home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country’s atomic program.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative site, it also operates a conversion facility, a fuel production plant, a zirconium cladding plant, and other facilities and laboratories. Israel has previously struck buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The IAEA said there has been no sign of increased radiation at the site.

By Nazrin Sadigova