After the U.S. struck three key uranium enrichment facilities in Iran, questions remain over the fate of the Islamic Republic’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.
Satellite photographs of the primary target, the Fordow uranium enrichment plant that Iran built under a mountain, showed several holes where a dozen Massive Ordnance Penetrators – one of the largest conventional bombs in the U.S. arsenal – punched deep holes in the rock. The Israeli military’s initial analysis concluded that the site sustained serious damage from the strike but had not been completely destroyed.
But there was also evidence, according to two Israeli officials with knowledge of the intelligence, that Iran had moved equipment and uranium from the site in recent days. And there was growing evidence that the Iranians had removed 400kg of uranium enriched to 60% purity, just below the 90% that is usually used in nuclear weapons.
The 60% enriched fuel had been stored deep inside another nuclear site near Isfahan. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the fuel had last been seen by his teams of United Nations inspectors about a week before Israel began its attacks on Iran. In an interview on CNN on Sunday, he added that “Iran has made no secret that they have protected this material.”
