At the end of October, Israel took out a secret nuclear installation in Iran, called Teleghan 2. It was so secret that only parts of the power elite were informed. But it seems Israel can read Iran’s secrets like an open book.

The Israeli strike on Iran in late October destroyed an active, top-secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, according to three US officials, a current Israeli official and a former Israeli official.

Why it’s important: The attack, which targeted a facility previously reported to be inactive, significantly damaged Iran’s efforts over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research, according to Israeli and US officials.

• • A former Israeli official briefed on the attack said it destroyed sophisticated equipment used to design the plastic explosive that surrounds the uranium in a nuclear bomb and is needed to detonate it.
  • Iran has denied that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement last week that “Iran is not looking for nuclear weapons, period.”

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• Iran’s UN representation has not wished to comment on the matter.
• The incoming Trump administration will include several key national security and foreign policy officials who are hawkish on Iran, which could lead to increased US pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The fact that Israel has such good insight into what Iran is doing is reassuring. If Iran were to be on the verge of testing a bomb, you must expect Israel to intervene. The likelihood of that is significantly greater when Trump takes over the White House.

The news drive: One of the targets of the Israeli attack on 25 October was the Taleghan 2 facility in the Parchin military complex, about 30 kilometres southeast of Tehran.

• The facility was part of Iran’s Amad nuclear weapons programme until Iran halted its military nuclear programme in 2003. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, it was used to test explosives needed to trigger a nuclear bomb.
• High-resolution satellite imagery obtained by the Institute after the Israeli attack showed that the Taleghan 2 building was completely destroyed.

Behind the scenes: Israeli and US officials said the recent activity at the Taleghan 2 facility was part of an effort within the Iranian government to conduct research that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons, but could also be presented as research for civilian purposes.

• «They were conducting scientific activity that could lay the foundation for the production of nuclear weapons. It was top secret. A small part of the Iranian government knew about this, but most of the Iranian government did not,” says a US official.

• Israeli and US intelligence began earlier this year to detect research activity at Parchin, including Iranian scientists engaged in computer modelling, metallurgy and explosives research that could be used for nuclear weapons.

   

After the latest Israeli air strike, Iran is left without air defences. The Israelis can do whatever they want.

Background: Last June, White House officials warned the Iranians in direct talks about the suspicious research activities, Axios reported.

• The US hoped the warning would prompt the Iranians to halt their nuclear activity, but they continued, the officials said.

A US official said that in the months before the Israeli attack “there was concern across the board” about the Iranian activity at the Taleghan 2 facility.

• The Iranian nuclear weapons research even led the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to change its assessment of the Iranian nuclear programme.

• The Wall Street Journal reported in August that a report from the DNI to Congress did not include a sentence that had appeared in intelligence assessments in recent years, stating that Iran “is not currently engaged in the key nuclear weapons development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device”.

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/15/iran-israel-destroyed-active-nuclear-weapons-research-facility