Latest news with #Isfahan
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
IAEA chief confirms Isfahan as Iran's new uranium enrichment site
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi says Iran's announcement of the new site was part of its retaliation against the agency. (EPA Images pic) VIENNA : UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday identified Isfahan, home to one of Iran's biggest nuclear facilities, as the location of a uranium enrichment plant that Iran said it would soon open in retaliation for a diplomatic push against it. The day before Israel launched its military strikes against Iranian targets including nuclear facilities last Friday, Iran announced it had built a new uranium enrichment facility, which it would soon equip and bring online. Tehran did not provide details such as the plant's location. Iran's announcement was part of its retaliation against a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Tehran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations over issues including its failure to credibly explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Had it gone online, the new enrichment plant would have been the fourth in operation in Iran. But Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed one of those plants and put another out of action by killing its power supply, the IAEA has said. 'There was an announcement, quite coincidentally, on the eve of the start of the military operation by Israel of a new enrichment facility in Isfahan, precisely, that we were going to be inspecting immediately, but this inspection had to be postponed, we hope, because of the start of the military operation,' Grossi said. He did not say where exactly in Isfahan the planned plant was, but he said the nuclear complex there is 'huge'. The IAEA has previously reported that Israeli military strikes on Friday damaged four buildings at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility that transforms 'yellowcake' uranium into the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges so that it can be enriched. Grossi told the BBC on Monday that the 'underground spaces' at Isfahan did not seem to have been affected. Officials say those spaces are also where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stock has been stored. The IAEA has not, however, been able to carry out any inspections since the strikes.
The National
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Iran's missile launchers forced to pull back from danger zone
Israeli air strikes in western Iran have forced Tehran to move its ballistic missiles to central areas to avoid destruction. In doing so, three of its weapons have been left unable to reach targets within Israel. Besides the 20-missile barrage that struck an Israeli hospital on Thursday, Iran has been unable to mount large-scale or effective strikes. The military has been forced to fire from the Isfahan area of central Iran, about 1,600km from Israeli targets. Its more advanced missiles, the Fatah-1 and Haj Qasem, would now fall short with a range of only 1,400km, as well as the Kheibar Shekan, which can reach distances of 1,450km. The Fatah-1 has been touted as a hypersonic missile with the capability to fly at very high speeds – approaching 18,600kph – while being able to manoeuvre mid-flight, making them difficult to intercept. Liquid missiles These missiles are also the more precise medium-range weapons and, being solid fuel, are easier to transport, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iranian-American analyst based in the US. 'Iran doesn't have many medium-range ballistic missiles on the higher end of the range cap that are solid fuel, so they are now using the liquid-fuel ones,' he said. Liquid-fuel missiles are less accurate and take more time to launch because they have to be filled with propellant on-site as transporting them already fuelled is too dangerous. 'That makes them more vulnerable to launch and that's why the Israelis have had a lot of success as you can actually spot these things being launched. You can destroy them there before they even take off,' Mr Ben Taleblu added. Launchers down The situation further deteriorated for the Tehran regime after Israeli claims that it has destroyed half of all its launchers and up to 40 per cent of its missile stockpile. Iran is now left with using the Emad (1,700km range) and Ghadr (1,950km range) weapons, which use liquid fuel and are vulnerable and difficult to transport. At 2,000km, the solid-fuelled Sejjil-1 has the greatest range and was used in a solitary attack for the first time on Wednesday, which 'may reflect Iran's need to launch longer-range missiles from deeper inside Iranian territory', the Institute for the Study of War think tank said in a report. 'Iran has recently used fewer missiles to attack Israel because it is having difficulty co-ordinating large attacks on Israel, not because Iran is conserving its remaining ballistic missile stockpile,' it added. In its first retaliation attack responding to Israel's surprise operation on Friday last week, Iran fired 200 missiles, followed by 75 the next day and 94 on Sunday, which in total resulted in 24 Israeli civilian deaths. But on Monday it managed only 22, another 47 on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, before Thursday's 20-rocket barrage. Furthermore, Israel has targeted ballistic missile factories to prevent Iran from replenishing its dwindling stockpile. Analysts believe Iran will now be reluctant to use up its remaining long-range stockpile unless it comes to view the conflict with Israel as an existential threat. Mr Ben Taleblu argued that Iran's missile stockpile was now probably below 1,000, as Tehran 'needs to preserve something in terms of their capability and capacity to defend the regime in their mind, in a post-conflict scenario'.
Arab News
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
IAEA chief identifies Isfahan as Iran's planned uranium enrichment site
VIENNA: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday identified Isfahan, home to one of Iran's biggest nuclear facilities, as the location of a uranium enrichment plant that Iran said it would soon open in retaliation for a diplomatic push against it. The day before Israel launched its military strikes against Iranian targets including nuclear facilities last Friday, Iran announced it had built a new uranium enrichment facility, which it would soon equip and bring online. Tehran did not provide details such as the plant's location. Iran's announcement was part of its retaliation against a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Tehran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations over issues including its failure to credibly explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Had it gone online, the new enrichment plant would have been the fourth in operation in Iran. But Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed one of those plants and put another out of action by killing its power supply, the IAEA has said. 'There was an announcement, quite coincidentally, on the eve of the start of the military operation by Israel of a new enrichment facility in Isfahan, precisely, that we were going to be inspecting immediately, but this inspection had to be postponed, we hope, because of the start of the military operation,' Grossi said. He did not say where exactly in Isfahan the planned plant was, but he said the nuclear complex there is 'huge.' The IAEA has previously reported that Israeli military strikes on Friday damaged four buildings at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility that transforms 'yellowcake' uranium into the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges so that it can be enriched. Grossi told the BBC on Monday that the 'underground spaces' at Isfahan did not seem to have been affected. Officials say those spaces are also where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stock has been stored. The IAEA has not, however, been able to carry out any inspections since the strikes.
Reuters
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
IAEA chief identifies Isfahan as Iran's planned uranium enrichment site
VIENNA, June 19 (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday identified Isfahan, home to one of Iran's biggest nuclear facilities, as the location of a uranium enrichment plant that Iran said it would soon open in retaliation for a diplomatic push against it. The day before Israel launched its military strikes against Iranian targets including nuclear facilities last Friday, Iran announced it had built a new uranium enrichment facility, which it would soon equip and bring online. Tehran did not provide details such as the plant's location. Iran's announcement was part of its retaliation against a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Tehran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations over issues including its failure to credibly explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Had it gone online, the new enrichment plant would have been the fourth in operation in Iran. But Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed one of those plants and put another out of action by killing its power supply, the IAEA has said. "There was an announcement, quite coincidentally, on the eve of the start of the military operation by Israel of a new enrichment facility in Isfahan, precisely, that we were going to be inspecting immediately, but this inspection had to be postponed, we hope, because of the start of the military operation," Grossi said. He did not say where exactly in Isfahan the planned plant was, but he said the nuclear complex there is "huge". The IAEA has previously reported that Israeli military strikes on Friday damaged four buildings at Isfahan, including the Uranium Conversion Facility that transforms "yellowcake" uranium into the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges so that it can be enriched. Grossi told the BBC on Monday that the "underground spaces" at Isfahan did not seem to have been affected. Officials say those spaces are also where much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stock has been stored. The IAEA has not, however, been able to carry out any inspections since the strikes.
LBCI
17 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel says 'it was a mistake' to say Iran's Bushehr was hit
An Israeli military official said on Thursday that "it was a mistake" for a military spokesperson to have said earlier in the day that Israel had struck the Bushehr nuclear site in Iran. The official would only confirm that Israel had hit the Natanz, Isfahan and Arak nuclear sites in Iran. Pressed further on Bushehr, the official said he could neither confirm nor deny that Israel had struck the location, where Iran has a reactor. Hitting Bushehr, which is close to Gulf Arab neighbors and staffed in part by Russian experts, would have been a major escalation. Reuters
