Israel-Iran war: Did Israeli attacks fail to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities? IAEA statement shocks Netanyahu, says Israel did not...
(File)
Israel-Iran war: In a major disclosure which raises questions about the efficacy and actual impact of Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Saturday stated that no damage was seen at Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or the under-construction Khondab heavy water reactor. IAEA refutes Israel's claim
IAEA's statement came a day after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had claimed to have destroyed the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant with missile strikes. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is one of Iran's most secure nuclear facilities, and the Israel's failure to damage it raises serious questions about Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's claim of crippling Tehran's nuclear program.
Meanwhile, the IAEA also said that no further damage had been observed at the Natanz, another Iranian nuclear site targeted by Israel on Friday. 'As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,' the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a post on X.
The UN agency further said that Iran's Nuclear Regulatory Authority had informed it of no change in off-site radiation levels in Isfahan, which was also struck by Israeli air strikes. It added that four critical buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site had been damaged in the Israeli attack, including a uranium conversion facility and a fuel plate fabrication plant.
According to ISNA, Iran's semi-official news agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson of Tehran's Atomic Energy Organization, said that a significant portion of key nuclear equipment and materials had already been removed from Fordow site located northeast of Qom. Why is it difficult to damage Fordow nuclear plant?
The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is a hardened, ultra-secure nuclear facilities built deep beneath a mountain, and surrounded by tall peaks on all sides. The mountainous terrain renders even the most advanced cruise missiles ineffective, and the site is protected by a large number of air defense systems concentrated in a small region, making it almost impossible for any missile or drone to go through.
According to experts, Israel would need the something at the scale of the US-made Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), aka the 'Mother of All Bombs' to destroy a site like Fordow.
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