logo
Iran threatens to ramp up enrichment of nuke-grade uranium AGAIN – just 24 days after Trump bombed ‘Mount Doom' facility

Iran threatens to ramp up enrichment of nuke-grade uranium AGAIN – just 24 days after Trump bombed ‘Mount Doom' facility

The Sun16-07-2025
IRAN has again threatened to ramp up enrichment of its near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile just days after being bombed by the US.
It comes after Israel said some of Iran's nuclear fuel survived US bombings during the 12-Day War last month.
10
10
10
Tehran admitted that Operation Midnight Hammer - which saw American B-2 Spirit bombers drop more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs - did cause "excessive and serious" damage.
But it said the bombings will not deter the regime from enriching uranium, which they claim is for peaceful civilian use.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 per cent - way above levels for civilian use but slightly below weapons-grade.
That material, if further refined to 90 per cent, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told Mehr News Agency: "We will never give up our legitimate right to enrich uranium.
"Enrichment is a sovereign right that we will continue to pursue based on our national needs.
"Bombing cannot erase this knowledge — it will only come back stronger."
It comes as the UK, France and Germany have agreed to restore tough UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no concrete progress on a nuclear deal.
Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA: "If the negotiations [with the US] must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place."
Boroujerdi added: "We will in no way succumb to the West's demands for zero enrichment."
The UN's top nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned Iran could start enriching uranium again within just months.
Doubts remained whether Iran quietly removed 408.6 kgs of uranium from its most sensitive sites before the US strikes - potentially hiding nuclear material elsewhere in the country.
Trump rips critics & insists 'bombs went through like butter' at Iran sites
An Israeli official told The New York Times some of the uranium stockpile survived the US and Israeli bombings last month - and may be accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not express concern about the remaining stockpile and said any attempt to recover it would be detected by the Israeli intelligence.
They also said that Israel would have enough time to attack Iran's nuclear facilities again if the regime tries to recover it.
But it was not clear immediately if the strikes - which hit Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities - were able to wipe out the entire stockpile of enriched uranium.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi admitted Iran could still have stockpiles of enriched uranium, saying: "We don't know where this material could be.
10
"So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification," he said in an interview with CBS.
"We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where it is and what happened," Grossi said.
Satellite imagery showed trucks moving out of Fordow in the days leading up to the attack - leading to speculations that Iran moved some of its underground uranium stockpile.
US and Israel, as well as independent experts, agree that all of Iran's working centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo — some 18,000 - were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair.
DOOM & BOOM
Satellite imagery appeared to show construction work at the Fordow Nuclear Enrichment facility in Qom, near Tehran.
Heavy earthmoving equipment can be seen working near the impact craters caused by US GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs.
Excavators and cranes can also be seen working, while more construction trucks are visible on roads leading to the impact points at the site.
A new access road between the site's northern tunnel entrance and one of the impact craters can be seen after Israel said its air force struck Fordow to "disrupt" access to the site.
David Albright, a US weapons expert, said in his assessment that Iran may be filling the craters and conducting engineering damage assessments and radiological sampling.
10
10
The 12-Day War began on June 13 when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion - a sophisticated campaign of bombing which targeted Iran's military nuclear sites.
The Israelis also brilliantly orchestrated Operation Red Wedding - 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in near-simultaneous blitz as Israel sought to root out the country's military strength entirely.
Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel, but failed to hit any strategic targets.
Less than a fortnight later, Trump joined the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.
The US military's flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran's Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant.
Iran, which vowed to hit US military bases across the Middle East, sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base - America's biggest military station in the region.
10
10
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'My parents were taken hostage in Iran. I need to hear from them'
'My parents were taken hostage in Iran. I need to hear from them'

BBC News

time14 minutes ago

  • BBC News

'My parents were taken hostage in Iran. I need to hear from them'

The son of a couple arrested in Iran has said it is "intolerable" that he has not been able to speak to his parents in more than 200 days. Joe Bennet said the Foreign Office told him he could call Lindsay and Craig Foreman last week, but after a "sleepless night of anticipation" it did not happen. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said they were "deeply concerned" by the case and continued to raise it directly with Iran's government. Mr and Ms Foreman were arrested by Iranian authorities in January while on a "once in a lifetime" trip around the world. They have since been charged with espionage - something the family denies. 'Vague reassurances' Mr Bennet says the family has not spoken to his 52-year-old parents, who are from East Sussex, since they were arrested. "We don't know their condition, their state of mind, or even with certainty that they are alive."All we have had are vague reassurances through officials," he added. Mr Bennet described the situation as unbearable and called directly on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy to intercede on their behalf."It is a weight no family should have to bear," he said. Scottish National Party MP Brendan O'Hara, vice-chair of the all-parliamentary group for arbitrary detention and hostage affairs (APPG), previously told the BBC the couple were "innocent victims of a geopolitical power struggle" between western states and Iran, likening them to "bargaining chips".He pointed to the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national who was held hostage by the Iranian government for six years to pressure the UK to pay a long-standing, multi-million-pound debt.

Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September
Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September

Reuters

time43 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September

July 27 (Reuters) - Syria is expected to hold its first parliamentary election under the new administration in September, the head of the electoral commission told state news agency SANA on Sunday. Voting for the 210-member People's Assembly is scheduled to take place between September 15 and 20, said Mohamed Taha, who is overseeing the electoral process. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has received a draft electoral law that amends a previous decree and raises the number of seats from 150 to 210. A third of the seats will be appointed by the president. The government has pledged broad representation and said it will allow foreign observers to monitor electoral committees overseeing the vote. Officials said areas outside government control, including Kurdish-held regions in northern Syria and the Druze-majority province of Sweida, would continue to have seats allocated based on population. The new assembly is expected to lay the groundwork for a broader democratic process, which critics say currently lacks sufficient participation from minority groups. It will also be tasked with approving landmark legislation aimed at overhauling decades of state-controlled economic policies and ratifying treaties that could reshape Syria's foreign policy alliances. In March, Syria issued a constitutional declaration to guide the interim period under Sharaa's leadership. The document preserves a central role for Islamic law while guaranteeing women's rights and freedom of expression. It raised concerns of civic groups and Western nations about the concentration of power among the country's Islamist-led leadership.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store