Iran likely has more underground sites it's could turn into uranium facilities: experts
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, told The Post that at least one other location in Iran has been dug out and could be turned into a uranium enrichment facility.
In 2022, Albright published a report placing a new 'underground complex … south of the main uranium enrichment site' at Natanz.
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Satellite photos taken of the Fordow nuclear facility days before the bombing, show cargo trucks lined up in front.
7 Prior to bombs being dropped on Iran's 'key' nuclear facilities, trucks were spotted at Fordow.
US Air Force
7 Iran's Fordow nuclear facility after being hit by airstrikes.
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'We don't know was taken away but, obviously, it was something important,' Albright acknowledged. 'They had stocks [of enriched uranium] and they had centrifuges. So, those are things they could have removed.'
As for whether the materials could have been taken to the additional facility he wrote about, Albright said, 'Could be. But I think Israel would know that — they certainly are capable of following those trucks.
'I think it would be very risky,' he added. 'I think Iran is too worried and too scared to really start a [new] enrichment plant, let alone make a move to produce nuclear grade uranium and a nuclear weapon right now.'
While he believes there is a low probability that Iran could be ready to get another facility up and running quickly, Albright said, 'You want to make sure that they're not having a couple thousand centrifuges somewhere, enriching 60% enriched uranium. But I don't think they would do that. I think they're just too disorganized and in shock to do that now — but wait six months.'
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7 David Alright believes that there is low probability of Iran getting another nuclear facility up and running quickly.
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
7 Iranian officials, including the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami (right), examining nuclear technology.
IRANIAN PRESIDENT OFFICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, maintained earlier this month that the country had an enrichment site that he described as being in a 'secure and invulnerable location.'
'The new site is fully constructed and located in a secure, invulnerable location,' Eslami said on June 12. 'As soon as centrifuge installation and setup are complete, enrichment will begin.'
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Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said that Iran can easily have any number of underground sites that are partially built and ready to be turned into facilities for building nuclear weapons.
'I bet they dug a lot of facilities and didn't put anything in them,' he told The Post. 'Then they have opportunities to move different things around [like the materials from Fordow] and to bring different facilities into operation.'
7 Emily Harding told The Post that 'one thing Iran has continued to do is dig deeper.'
Courtesy of Emily Harding
7 Jeffrey Lewis believes that Iran has dug out more additional facilities but not yet built them out.
Jeffrey Lewis
Emily Harding, director of the Intelligence and National Security and Technology Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed: 'One thing that Iran has continued to do is dig deeper and prepare. They love keeping their options open.'
By cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has been obligated to be transparent about nuclear material and activities. But establishing facilities without yet making them nuclear operational, Lewis said, 'would have allowed Iran to follow the letter of the law — but not the spirit.'
Eslami's June 12 claim came after Iran was censured by the IAEA for failing to be transparent under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
7 Map of nuclear facilities that were hit by bombs during US airstrikes.
Rob Jejenich / NY Post Design
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Harding believes that Eslami's claim could be as much to assure the Iranians as to unnerve the West.
'The Iranian leaders have consistently tried to communicate to their population that they are succeeding in their nuclear ambitions,' he said. 'One way to do that is to say that they continue to enrich [uranium] and that they are a nuclear power.'
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