Since Iran launched a salvo of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli defence targets on October 1, 2024 in retaliation for the death of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on September 27 (2024), the Jewish Nation has been looking for an opportunity to strike back at the Islamic Republic. However, no one knows how Tel Aviv would respond to the attack. Some believe that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will destroy nuclear facilities of Iran by carrying out airstrikes, while others are of the opinion that the Israeli missiles may hit those facilities, as well as oil reserves.

Defence experts have opined that it would be not at all easy for Israel to blow up the nuclear facilities of Iran in the blink of an eye, stressing that the nuclear power plants are spread in different areas of the Islamic Republic. Even Tehran conducts research in underground bunkers to avoid Israeli attacks. Hence, it would be difficult to destroy them by carrying out airstrikes or missile attacks. According to the Washington Post, with the amount of uranium Iran currently has, it may need a few days or a few weeks to make at least three nuclear bombs! The US daily has also claimed that the Iranian researchers have already enriched a huge amount of uranium!

The US intelligence sources have revealed that the Iranian nuclear facilities mainly produce pure uranium. The largest such centre is situated in Natanz, a city in Isfahan Province, about 440km south of Tehran. In fact, there are two uranium enrichment plants in Natanz and one of them is underground. Exiled opposition leaders of Iran had revealed the existence of two uranium enrichment plants in Natanz way back in 2002, stating that Tehran built them in a secret manner! Since then, the nuclear ambition of the Islamic Republic has sparked political unrest among Western countries, especially the US. Defence experts are sceptical about how much damage the IDF would be able to inflict on Natanz. Israel reportedly tried to blow up these centres several times in the past, but failed.

The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), the second nuclear site of Iran, is more difficult to hit because it is located underground and built deep in a mountain (because of repeated threats by Israel to attack such facilities)! In 2015, the West put the Persian Gulf nation under considerable diplomatic pressure to prevent the FFEP from being built. However, Tehran managed to construct the plant where more than 1,000 centrifuges are currently in operation! The FFEP also has several state-of-the-art IR-6 machines, capable of producing up to 60% pure uranium.

There is another huge nuclear plant on the outskirts of Isfahan, the second largest city of Iran. This site includes a Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and a Uranium Conversion Facility. The Uranium Conversion Facility can convert pure uranium into uranium hexafluoride, suitable for use in centrifuges. The Isfahan nuclear plant has all the necessary equipment for the production of uranium that can be used to prepare nuclear bomb cores! According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Isfahan had machinery for making centrifuge parts that was moved to a new location in 2022.

The second material required to make a nuclear weapon is heavy water. Iran has a research reactor for this purpose in Khondab, the capital of Markazi Province. Here, plutonium, which is as radioactive as uranium, can be easily produced by using heavy water. The concerned authorities in Iran closed the heavy water research centre at Khondab in 2015 in compliance with an international agreement. Later, Tehran decided to reopen the centre. The Government of Iran informed the IAEA that the heavy water generation plant at Khondab would be re-commissioned by the end of 2026.

According to sources, the Iranian defence researchers are also using the centre at Tehran to develop nuclear weapons! This centre is famous for the nuclear medicine diagnostic or cancer treatment. Interestingly, the Western media have claimed that radioisotopes are being produced here that could be used for war purposes. Besides, Tehran has built a nuclear facility in Bushehr with the help of Russia. However, this plant is used for civilian purposes. The same applies to the nuclear research centre in Karaj, although foreign intelligence agencies have received information that large quantities of uranium are stored in these centres.

Iran has a uranium mine in the Saghand desert region of Yazd Province where mining started in 2013. However, Tehran has claimed that low-grade uranium ore is found there. There is a base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Parchin where the West Asian nation conducted several missile tests in the past. Some defence experts believe that the concerned authorities in Iran might have hidden uranium at this base.

Although US President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr is not in favour of attacking the nuclear facilities of Iran, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald John Trump has openly voiced support for Israel to crush them! A section of defence experts has predicted that the IDF may not launch a direct attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities. Instead, Mossad can play an important role in this regard as the Israeli intelligence agency has the ability to detonate bombs inside those facilities! Israel allegedly triggered explosions of thousands of pagers, walkie-talkie radios, mobile phones, laptops and even solar power cells across neighbouring Lebanon in September 2024, killing thousands of people. According to sources, the Jewish secret agents can use this particular method to destroy nuclear facilities of Iran.

It may be noted that Israel dominates the regional geopolitics in West Asia because it has nuclear weapons. Whenever Iran becomes a nuclear power, the entire equation shall change in the region, and Israel would have no other option, but to maintain a balance of power with the Persian Gulf nation. Hence, the Zionist Regime has been opposing the Iranian nuclear programme for a long time.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das