Latest news with #uraniumenrichment
Free Malaysia Today
4 hours 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.
Arab News
15 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.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Iran's hidden uranium plant ‘only the US can destroy'
A uranium enrichment plant crucial to Iran's nuclear ambitions has found itself at the centre of an unspeakably tense military standoff. Tucked deep beneath a mountain ridge south of Tehran lies the Fordo plant. It is currently out of reach for Israel's highly sophisticated missile systems, which have now claimed air superiority over most of Iran. Fordo sits approximately 96 km south of the capital of Tehran. It was originally a series of tunnels used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but Iran publicly disclosed its use as a nuclear facility in 2009 following Western pressure. The site consists of two large tunnels that power uranium-enrichment centrifuges, connected by smaller passages. Its depth poses a major challenge for Israel. The IDF reportedly has armaments capable of penetrating up to 10m of underground, but Fordo lies roughly 80–90m beneath the surface. Only the United States is believed to possess a weapon capable of inflicting serious damage on the facility — the 13,000kg GBUâ€'57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), or 'bunker buster'. Experts warn that deploying such a bomb could dramatically expand the Middle Eastern conflict, which is already sitting on a knife's edge after seven full days of traded blows. The US GBUâ€'57 comes in at a whopping 13 tonnes, giving it the ability to bury through around 18m of concrete or 61m of earth with relative ease. It will be high on Israel's list of requests should Donald Trump make the highly controversial call to intervene. But analysts caution that even a 13-tonne bunker buster may not be enough, and an attempt to destroy Fordo would likely rupture regional stability. But leaving it standing leaves a vital Iranian nuclear asset unscathed. Decisions made now — and whether a warhead flies from American skies — will define this chapter of Middle East security. Though the US has already helped intercept Iranian missiles en route to Israel, it has not launched any direct strikes on Iran. President Trump has remained vague, which has sent a ripple through the MAGA ranks, many of whom are opposed to the idea of US interventionism. 'I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' and added that his patience with Tehran 'had already run out.' Iran battered but not broken In less than a week, the Israeli army has taken out Iranian military commanders and damaged numerous surface installations, raising more questions than answers. 'The regime's missile stockpiles, launchers, military bases, production facilities, nuclear scientists, military command and control has taken a very severe beating,' said Behnam Ben Taleblu, director of the Iran program at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a conservative-leaning group. 'But there are still outsized questions as to how efficacious of a strike Israel had against the beating hearts of Iran's nuclear program,' Taleblu said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported no damage at Fordo, a uranium enrichment plant south of Tehran. Unlike the Natanz and Isfahan sites in central Iran, Fordo is buried deep underground, beyond the reach of Israeli bombs. 'All eyes will be on Fordo, which is buried under about 300 feet of rock in central Iran,' Taleblu said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iranian Cannes Winner, Oscar Nominee Call for End to Israel-Iran Conflict
Iranian directors Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) and Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig) have signed an open letter calling for an end to the war between Iran and Israel and for the Iranian regime to shut down its nuclear program. Palme d'Or winner Panahi and the Oscar-nominated Rasoulof added their signatures to the op-ed published Wednesday in French newspaper Le Monde. Other prominent Iranian signatures included Nobel Peace Prize laureates Narges Mohammadi and Shirin Ebadi and human rights activists Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Shahnaz Akmali and Abdolfattah Soltani. More from The Hollywood Reporter Tourette Faker, Male Nanny for Rich Kids Comedies, Trans Dramedy Among Conecta Prize Winners BTS Is Back: K-pop Supergroup's Anniversary Ushers in Long-Awaited Reunion Russell Crowe's Nazi Thriller 'Nuremberg' Nabbed by Sony Pictures Classics 'We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel, and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries,' the open letter reads. Iran's enrichment of uranium has for decades been a cause of tension with the West and Israel. Israel justified its attacks on Iran last Friday, which sparked the current conflict, arguing Iran was close to building an atomic bomb, something Tehran denies. 'We believe that continuing uranium enrichment and the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime neither serves the Iranian people nor humanity at large,' the Le Monde letter continues. 'Uranium enrichment is in no way in the interest of the Iranian people. They must not be sacrificed for the nuclear or geopolitical ambitions of an authoritarian regime,' they said. The signatories also called on Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down. 'The current leaders of the Islamic Republic lack the capacity to resolve Iran's domestic crises or its external tensions. The only credible path to preserve this country and its people is for current authorities to step down.' In a post on his Instagram account, Panahi said he has been stranded in Australia since the invasion. The director was visiting the Sydney Film Festival when the conflict started. 'Since that day, I have been looking for a way to come back home [to] my family and especially my mother,' Panahi wrote on his Instagram post, according to the Farsi to English translation. 'This situation is deeply painful and deadly for me; not only because of the inevitable distance from home, but because of the feeling of incapability to face the suffering of the people who are sacrificed every day in the heart of this war. When the fate of a nation comes hostage to high-flying and power seekers, what is left for us is nothing but anger, grief, and the heavy responsibility of telling the truth to future generations.' Panahi returned to Iran last month after winning the Palme d'Or for It Was Just an Accident. He has been able to travel freely since 2023, when Iran's Supreme Court overturned an earlier travel ban. Rasoulof, who received an Oscar nomination for The Seed of the Sacred Fig, fled Iran last year and currently lives in Germany. The Israel-Iran conflict continues unabated, with Israeli media reports that Iran fired dozens of 30 ballistic missiles at Israel on Thursday morning. U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran's 'unconditional surrender,' but, so far, has not said whether the U.S. military will join Israel's ongoing attacks. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Iran's ambassador to UK confronted in parliament over 'price of peace'
British MPs have told Iran's ambassador to the UK that his country must strike a nuclear deal and agree to give up advanced uranium enrichment as the price of peace. Seyed Ali Mousavi's appearance at the Foreign Affairs Select committee was both sombre and tense with police in body armour providing an escort and a boycott of the session by the Israeli ambassador. The Iranian diplomat cast responsibility for the air war on Israel's offensive, rejecting MPs' concerns that Iran's breach of nuclear enrichment limits and its spread of proxies had paved the way to the conflict. In a tense exchange, committee member Edward Morello said: "Given that Iran has effectively lost control of its airspace, given that the [Israeli air force] can act with impunity across Iran, your proxies are refusing to respond to Israel's attack and you are rapidly running out of ballistics missiles to respond to Israel's attacks, the reality on the ground would indicate the government has very little scope but to enter into negotiations. "Why won't Iran if it has no nuclear weapons ambitions just say the price of the ceasefire is to give up its nuclear enrichment programme?" Mr Mousavi said Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke to his French, German and British counterparts on Monday night offering to give nuclear assurances. Committee chairman Emily Thornberry read out to Mr Mousavi the International Atomic Energy Agency ruling that found Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in two decades. Iran had violated the safeguards with a number failures to declare materials and locations where the nuclear programme was being carried out. The IAEA board resolution added the agency was "not able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded". Mr Mousavi said Israel had seized on a political-motivated resolution to turn its sights on Iran. "The Israeli regime used this mistake to attack us," he said. Addressing the allegations of regional destabilisation by Tehran, Mr Mousavi claimed his country's Islamic revolution in 1979 remained a source of inspiration across the region. He took issue with concerns that Iranian regime agents represented a threat to the UK, as has been assessed in more than 20 plots within the country detected by the intelligence service MI5. Mr Mousavi complained about the use of the word 'regime' to describe the government in Tehran, insisting Iran was 'a very lawful and legally responsible state'. With US President Donald Trump using Truth Social posts on Tuesday to declare Israel had "total control of Iranian airspace", the ambassador said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had tried to destroy attempts to seal an new deal. "We were in the very middle of negotiations with the American side but unfortunately Netanyahu destroyed this with his aggression," Mr Mousavi said. "We [have] declared the first priority is the ceasefire ... subject to a ceasefire the Israeli regime should stop their armed attack on the Iranian people and infrastructure".
